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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OE  CALIEORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR 
'     EMPLOYEES. 


RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR 
EMPLOYEES 


OSSIAN    D.  ASHLEY 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  WABASH  RAILROAD  CO. 


CHICAGO 

THE  RAILWAY  AGE  AND  NORTHWESTERN  RAILROADER 
1S95 


COPYRIGHT 

THE    RAILWAY   AGE   AND   NORTHWESTERN    RAILROADER 

1895 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Railways  and  Their  Employees  -       -  -  g 

CHAPTER    H. 
The  Evil  Results  of  Strikes       -  -  -        25 

CHAPTER    HI. 
MuTALiTV  OK  Interests    -  -  -  -  39 

CHAPTER    IV. 
Examples  of  Practical  Cooperation       -  -        54 

CHAPTER   V. 
Profit  Sharing      -  -  -  -  71 

CHAPTER   VI. 
Examples  of  Cooperative  Methods        -  -        80 

CHAPTER   VII. 
Fallacy  of  Socialistic  Ideas  -  -  98 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Distribution  Practically  Illustrated  -      109 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Socialism       ------  122 


720182 

INST.  INDIT9.  REL 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    X. 
Socialism   Continued  -  -  -  -      '35 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Kropotkine  as  a  Social  Reformer   -  -  154 

CHAPTER  Xn. 

Impracticablk    Character    of    Socialistic 

Theories     ---...      172 

CHAPTER  Xni. 
Popular  Govkrnment  on  Trial  -  -  188 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Cooperation  the  Best   Re.medy    -  -  -      200 


INTRODUCTORY. 


The  series  of  papers  which  compose  this  little 
volume  were  published  originally  in  "The  Railway 
Age."  The  first  chapter  entitled  "Railway  Compan- 
ies and  Their  Employees"  was  written  as  one  of  a 
series  of  articles  contributed  by  railway  ofificials,  at  the 
request  of  the  "Age,"  without  any  intention  on  the 
part  of  the  writer  of  continuing  the  subject.  At  the 
suggestion  of  the  Editor,  a  second  and  third  chapter 
followed,  and  the  writer  became  interested  in  the  pro- 
gress of  cooperative  work,  which  he  found  had  been 
far  more  successful  than  he  had  supposed.  The  grat- 
ifying results  of  these  experiments  seemed  important 
enough  to  call  for  the  publication  of  details  which  are 
not  generally  known*  Hence  the  writer  continued 
his  investigations.  This  led  naturally  to  an  examina- 
tion of  "Socialism"  and  to  a  consideration  of  coop- 
eration as  a  practical  method  of  harmonizing  the  in- 
terests of  employers  and  employed.  Written,  as  these 
chapters  have  been,  at  intervals  of  a  month  or  six 
weeks,  the  continuity  of  thought  has  been  somewhat 
broken  and  the  writer  may  have  been  led  into  repeti- 
tions which  might  have  been  avoided,  had  it  been  his 

7  .^ 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 

purpose  to  write  a  book  at  the  outset.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  rectify  these  imperfections  now,  without 
reconstructing  the  whole,  and  this  explanation  will, 
perhaps,  furnish  a  sufficient  excuse  for  such  defects  in 
the  volume.  ' 

The  author  claims  no  originality  for  this  work,  but 
believes  he  has  presented  the  matter  in  a  more  tangi- 
ble shape  for  the  consideration  of  those  who  take  an 
interest  in  the  subject.  Cooperation  in  its  various 
forms  is,  in  the  opinion  of  many  who  have  studied 
the  alleged  grievances  of  "Socialism,"  the  only  effect- 
ive and  practical  remedy  available. 

O.  D.  Ashley. 

New  York,  August,  1895. 


RAILWAYS    AND   THEIR 
EMPLOYEES. 


CHAPTER   I. 

COOPERATIVE    EXPERIMENTS. 

In  questions  of  social  economy  which  treat  of  the 
relations  of  capital  and  labor  and  of  employers  and 
employees,  the  most  attractive  theory  perhaps  is  that 
which  contemplates  some  method  of  cooperation 
between  the  two  interests  which  will  admit  of  a  more 
equal  distribution  of  the  profits  of  labor  which  capital 
concentrates,  directs  and  utilizes.  Intelligent  human- 
ity looks  upon  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth, 
which  gives  to  half  of  the  human  race  ease  and  com- 
fort while  the  other  half  lives  only  by  incessant  toil  or 
suffers  in  poverty,  as  an  evil  which  should  be  cor- 
rected by  any  just  process.  Any  movement  therefore 
which  supports  this  general  proposition  of  improving 
the  condition  of  the  working  classes  by  introducing 
methods  of  enabling  labor  to  participate  more  active- 
ly and  more  liberally  in  the  net  profits  of  its  produc- 
tion or  of  the  result  of  its  employment,  meets  with 
widespread  sympathy  and  encouragement.  Unhappily 
this  beneficent  policy,  which  is  the  legitimate  out- 
come of  liberty  and  popular  government,  has  brought 
to  the  surface  a  large  number  of  hot-headed  and  nar- 

9 


lo        RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

row-ininded  zealots  who  aspire  to  leadership,  and 
whose  baneful  counsels  have  done  much  to  retard  the 
growth  of  practical  measures  to  promote  the  great  ob- 
ject in  view. 

In  the  grand  scheme  of  elevating  humanity  to  uni- 
versal brotherhood,  peaceful  agencies  and  lawful 
methods  must  prevail,  or  the  movement  will  degener- 
ate into  a  disgraceful  contest  which  must  utterly  fail 
to  accomplish  its  purpose.  Men  who  are  heartily  in 
favor  of  a  gradual  and  healthy  change  in  the  condi- 
tion of  the  working  classes  will  never  submit  to  dicta- 
tion nor  be  ruled  by  the  tyranny  of  a  mob,  and  even 
if  by  force  of  numbers  they  should  be  temporarily 
overcome,  the  triumph  would  be  barren  of  advantages 
to  the  victors  and  of  short  duration.  The  principles 
of  popular  government  hold  sacred  the  equality  of 
rights  in  man,  and  whatever  may  be  his  condition,  he 
can  claim  and  is  entitled  to  equal  protection  to  life 
and  property.  These  principles  are  fundamental  and 
indispensable  in  the  structure  of  this  republic,  stand- 
ing like  massive  columns  to  support  the  beautiful 
temple  of  freedom.  If  these  principles  are  invaded 
the  social  compact  is  broken,  and  the  government  will 
be  in  danger  of  destruction. 

Philanthropic  schemes  which  depend  upon  the  vol- 
untary aid  of  the  people  for  their  success  are  not  to 
be  forced  through  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  nor  by 
the  unjust  and  oppressive  acts  of  a  numerical  major- 
ity. The  very  sentiment  which  promotes  them  is  cul- 
tivated and  developed  by  teaching  the  doctrine  of 
good  will  toward  men,  which  finds  its  great  exponent 
in  the  founder  of  Christianity.     When  therefore   we 


COOPERATIVE    EXPERIMENTS.  H 

seek  to  create  something  like  a  revolution  in  the  social 
status  upon  the  theory  of  reciprocal  advantages — a 
theory  which  calls  for  concession  from  one  part  of  the 
community  to  carry  out  plans  for  the  benefit  of  the 
other — it  is  an  education  which  we  are  undertaking. 
This  requires  time,  and  the  progress  must  necessarily 
be  gradual  ;  but  this  is  the  only  way  by  which  the 
change  can  be  effected,  and  so  long  as  improvement  is 
being  made  in  the  right  direction,  it  should  be  satis- 
factory to  its  advocates  and  to  those  who  are  to  be 
beneficiaries  under  the  new  policy. 

Many  atttempts  have  been  made  both  in  Europe 
and  in  this  country  to  introduce  the  cooperative  prin- 
ciple, sometimes  in  the  establishment  of  stores  to  sup- 
ply workingmen  at  a  small  advance  on  the  cost  of 
goods — just  enough  to  pay  operating  expenses— and 
sometimes  in  the  combination  of  operatives  as  pro- 
prietors in  manufactories,  these  latter  giving  to  the 
workmen  not  only  regular  wages,  but  a  share  in  any 
profits  which  may  be  realized.  These  crude  efforts 
have  not  been  successful  enough,  except  upon  a  small 
scale,  to  command  the  approval  and  support  of  the 
working  classes,  partly  in  consequence  of  unskillful 
methods  and  partly  because  the  full  responsibility  of 
those  who  participate  in  profit-sharing  can  never  be 
enforced.  The  workmen  who  enter  into  such  combin- 
ations have  but  one  object  in  view,  namely  :  that  of 
increasing  the  amount  of  their  own  compensation.  If 
they  can  buy  supplies  for  the  household  at  a  lower 
price  than  at  other  establishments  they  are  glad  to 
trade  at  cooperative  stores,  but  if  they  find  that  such 
stores  cannot  compete  with  the  gigantic  concerns  of 


12       RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

the  Bon  Marchd  order,  which  have  been  rapidly  mul- 
tiplying in  the  large  cities,  the  cooperative  stores  will 
be  and  have  been  deserted,  to  become  complete  fail- 
ures. And  if  manufacturing  on  the  profit-sharing 
plan  pays  no  dividends,  or  if  in  bad  years  losses  in- 
stead of  profits  burden  the  enterprise,  they  are  not 
only  dissatisfied,  but  naturally  quite  unwilling  to  con- 
tribute either  from  their  savings  or  in  reduced  wages 
to  recruit  the  financial  strength  wasted  by  the  concern 
in  dull  times  and  falling  markets.  In  short,  the  work- 
ing classes,  while  perfectly  willing  to  accept  possible 
profits,  are  in  no  condition  to  take  possible  risks  or  to 
pay  possible  losses.  Hence  profit-sharing  as  an  exper- 
iment has  not  been  as  yet  a  success,  nor  is  it  likely 
to  be  until  the  radical  difficulties  just  outlined  have 
been  overcome. 

But  while  the  result  of  these  experiments  has  not 
been  equal  to  the  expectations  of  the  projectors,  it 
does  not  follow  that  the  underlying  principle  of  co- 
operation is  a  failure.  It  simply  proves  that  it  has 
not  been  applied  in  a  practical  way.  It  proves  con- 
clusively that  mental  and  physical  labor  must  be  com- 
bined in  conducting  business  undertakings,  and  that 
where  the  one  strives  to  act  independently  of  the  other 
it  must  fail  from  sheer  inability  to  compete  with  the 
combined  forces  of  both.  To  illustrate  this  point 
clearly,  let  us  suppose  the  organization  of  a  manu- 
facturing company  upon  the  cooperative  plan,  the 
workmen  possessing  the  requisite  skill  in  the  manual 
labor  department  proposing  to  unite  in  the  purchase 
of  the  necessary  plant  and  in  providing  sufficient  work- 
ing capital  to  conduct  the  concern,   and  thus  becom- 


COOPERATIVE  EXPERIMENTS.      13- 

ing  proprietors  in  order  to  share  in  the  profits  of  the 
enterprise  over  and  above  the  wages  they  receive.  It 
will  be  found,  doubtless,  at  the  start,  that  in  order  to 
stand  any  chance  of  success  they  must  secure  the  ser- 
vices of  a  competent  and  experienced  manager  to  con- 
duct all  departments  of  business  not  included  in  the 
process  of  manufacturing,  such  as  the  purchase  of  raw 
materials,  the  sale  of  the  manufactured  articles,  and 
the  financial  arrangement.  This  calls  for  a  high  order 
of  talent,  which  can  only  be  secured  by  the  payment 
of  a  large  salary,  and  it  implies  also  the  employment 
of  skilled  accountants  and  trustworthy  agents  outside 
of  the  manufactory.  If  this  view  is  adopted  the  work- 
ing force  concedes  at  once  the  necessity  of  enlisting 
the  assistance  of  something  beyond  mechanical  skill, 
and  complete  independence  cannot  be  claimed.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  conclusion  is  that  the  necessary 
talent  to  manage  matters  outside  of  the  mechanical 
department  can  be  found  among  the  operatives  them- 
selves, they  must  take  from  the  skill  which  is  impor- 
tant in  the  working  department  to  provide  the  talent 
required  in  the  management,  and  at  great  risk  to  the 
enterprise.  In  the  latter  case  the  chances  of  success 
are  very  slight,  and  in  either  case  they  are  unfavorable 
in  a  competition  with  well  equipped  and  well  man- 
aged establishments.  It  is  practicable  to  build  an 
ocean  steamship  and  to  equip  it  with  a  good  crew,  but 
the  officers  to  navigate  the  ship  and  the  engineers  to 
work  its  machinery  are  indispensable,  and  unless  they 
are  provided  the  ship  is  not  in  a  condition  to  brave 
the  perils  of  the  sea. 

It  seems  obvious  that  in  order  to  prosecute  any  im- 


H         RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

portant  enterprise  successfully  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  unite  business  talent  and  experience  to  me- 
chanical skill  ;  the  experiments  prove  it,  and  common 
sense  confirms  this  conclusion.  In  order  to  promote 
the  end  in  view  there  must  be  not  only  a  general  and 
hearty  assent  to  the  proposition  to  elevate  the  work- 
ing classes  in  the  social  scale  and  to  give  them  a  bet- 
ter chance  of  profit  in  successful  undertakings,  but 
there  must  be  an  equivalent  secured  from  the  work- 
ing classes  in  faithful  and  continuous  service  to  com- 
pensate for  benefits  yielded.  Antagonism  between 
capital  and  labor  or  between  business  capacity  and 
mechanical  skill  will  always  be  fatal  to  the  desired  im- 
provement. The  proposition  is  to  elevate  the  indus- 
trial classes  so  far  as  this  can  be  accomplished  by  the 
adoption  of  just  and  voluntary  measures,  but  under 
no  circumstances  or  condition  to  drag  other  classes 
down.  Instead  then  of  banding  themselves  together 
in  hostile  attitudes  and  seeking  to  force  concessions 
on  the  part  of  employers,  without  regard  to  their  abil- 
ity to  grant  the  terms  demanded,  it  would  appear  to 
be  much  more  reasonable  to  offer  a  quid  pro  quo  in 
more  valuable  service  to  the  performance  of  which 
they  should  be  invited. 

To  illustrate  this  proposition,  let  us  take  railway 
service  and  consider  suggestions  in  the  line  of  im- 
provement which  might  be  mutually  beneficial  to  the 
proprietary  interest  and  its  employees. 

The  magnitude  of  this  system  of  transportation, the 
great  number  of  its  employees  and  the  variety  of  their 
occupations,  all  point  to  this  interest  as  exceptionally 
conditioned  for  the  trial  of   experiments  based   upon 


COOPERATIVE   EXPERIMENTS.  15 

the  idea  of  cooperation  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed. The  direct  employees  of  a  railway  company 
constitute  a  body  of  men  of  more  than  average  intel- 
ligence, embracing  mechanical  engineers  and  firemen, 
conductors  and  trainmen,  signal  men,  telegraph  oper- 
ators, switchmen  and  section  men,  together  with  skilled 
workmen  in  the  shops;  and  others  in  the  operating 
department,  besides  a  large  numb^  of  clerks  in  the 
auditor's  office,  commercial  agents,  ticket  agents  and 
others,  forming  an  army  of  operators  organized  and 
disciplined  in  their  several  departments  with  scrupu- 
lous care  and  working  with  undeviating  regularity. 
The  nature  of  the  service  calls  for  intelligence,  cour- 
age and  skill,  especially  from  those  who  have  charge  of 
the  movement  of  trains,  whether  as  engineers,  conduc- 
tors, train  dispatchers  or  signal  men,  and  as  a  rule 
they  are  well  paid,  as  men  should  be  who  are  worthy 
of  being  entrusted  with  the  safety  of  trains  which 
carry  more  than  one  and  a  half  millions  of  passengers 
daily.  And  although  accidents  will  happen,  even 
when  great  care  is  exercised,  sometimes  coming  in 
succession,  as  if  an  epidemic  of  disaster  prevailed,  it  is 
yet  creditable  to  railway  management  in  this  country 
that  so  many  millions  are  carried  such  vast  distances 
day  and  night  with  so  small  a  percentage  of  loss  of 
life.  In  time,  when  railways  arrive  at  greater  physical 
perfection,  this  percentage  will  be  still  further  reduced, 
but  this  desirable  condition  can  not  be  secured  until 
railway  companies  receive  more  liberal  treatment  from 
the  people.  Taken  as  they  are,  however,  they  can  be 
made  to  illustrate  the  plan  contemplated  in  this  paper, 
and  as  it  is  claimed  that  its  adoption  would  add  great- 


i6        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

ly  to  the  efficiency  of  the  service  and  lead  to  economy 
in  operating  expenses,  three  parties  would  be  gainers 
by  its  practical  success — the  people,  the  operatives 
and  the  railway  companies. 

The  first  step  in  this  ideal  railway  management  is 
to  proclaim  a  policy  of  promotion  from  the  ranks  of 
the  employees  of  the  company  according  to  ability  and 
meritorious  servicef.  It  should  be  understood  that  in 
all  cases  when  vacancies  occur  in  positions,  such  as  the 
heads  of  departments  or  their  assistants,  men  in  the 
employ  of  the  company  will  always  have  the  prefer- 
ence in  new  appointments.  Generally  it  will  be  found 
that  men  well  qualified  to  fill  any  of  the  higher  grades 
of  service  have  been  gradually  acquiring  the  requisite 
knowledge  for  more  important  and  more  responsible 
duties,  and  as  it  is  in  practice  and  experience  in  an 
operating  department  with  which  they  are  familiar 
that  this  knowledge  has  been  gained,  it  is  all  the  more 
trustworthy.  Occasionally  it  may  happen  that  posi- 
tions calling  for  unusual  capacity  and  skill  cannot  be 
filled  satisfactorily  from  existing  materials  in  the  oper- 
ating department,  and  in  such  cases  an  outside  selec- 
tion must  be  made;  but  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
offices  can  be  filled  from  those  in  charge  of  the  road 
unless  the  operating  force  had  been  badly  selected  in 
the  first  place.  The  result  of  such  a  policy  wherever 
it  has  been  tried  is  gratifying  enough  to  justify  the 
confidence  of  railway  managers  in  its  beneficial  influ- 
ence. It  awakens  ambition  in  the  men,  inspires  them 
with  hope  and  stimulates  them  to  an  honorable  com- 
petition. Men  who  feel  that  good  work  is  apprecia- 
ted and  that  they  have  a  fair  chance  of  rising  in  their 


COOPERATIVE    EXPERIMENTS.  17 

occupations  to  higher  grades  in  the  service  and  to 
larger  compensation  will  work  with  much  greater  zeal, 
energy  and  heart. 

The  next  step  in  the  administration  of  our  ideal 
railway  is  to  establish  a  well-constructed  system  of  life 
insurance  and  pensions.  To  carry  this  into  effect 
req'uires  the  accumulation  of  sufficient  capital  at  the 
start  to  become  at  least  partly  operative,  but  it  is  an 
all  important  policy  in  the  scheme  of  improvement. 
Life  insurance  is  now  in  force  on  the  lines  of  the 
Pennsylvania  company,  and  perhaps  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent on  other  lines  ;  but  to  answer  the  purposes  of  the 
scheme  outlined  in  this  j^aper  it  should  be  conducted 
upon  entirely  different  principles  from  those  which 
govern  ordinary  life  insurance  and  should  embrace 
accidents  and  pensions  within  its  provisions.  The 
fund  itself  should  be  entirely  provided  by  yearly  con- 
tributions from  the  earnings  of  the  railway,  because 
the  company  should  regulate  the  distribution  in  such 
a  way  as  to  offer  strong  inducements  to  employees  to 
secure  the  benefits  of  the  fund  by  long  and  faithful 
service  and  to  make  them  feel  that  their  true  interests 
will  be  served  by  adhering  loyally  and  steadfastly  to 
the  corporation  which  guarantees  under  such  condi- 
tions a  substantial  reward.  As  the  railway  company 
would  thus  reserve  a  fund  which  could  be  made  more 
and  more  liberal  to  its  beneficiaries  as  it  grew  in 
amount,  it  would  be  perfectly  just  and  quite  essential 
to  the  success  of  the  scheme  to  graduate  the  gratuity 
in  case  of  death  to  length  of  service  and  character  of 
employment,  and  in  case  of  pensions,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  accident  or  the  cause  of  disability  or 


i8         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

the  nature  of  the  claim  for  pension;  and  as  mutual 
obligations  would  be  contracted  between  the  parties 
when  employees  entered  service,  both  the  payment  of 
pensions  and  life  insurance  money  being  voluntary  on 
the  part  of  the  company,  it  would  be  proper  to  require 
strict  fulfillment  of  the  conditions  stipulated  at  the 
outset  by  the  company  in  order  to  establish  an  equita- 
ble claim  upon  the  fund.  One  of  the  indispensable 
conditions  as  to  payment  of  specific  sums  to  the  fam- 
ily of  the  deceased  employee  should  be  a  certain 
length  of  service,  suggestively  fixed  at  five  years,  in 
order  to  entitle  employees  to  the  benefit  of  the  fund, 
and  an  increase  in  the  amount  for  every  additional 
five  years  until  a  certain  maximum  should  be  attained. 
Suppose,  by  the  way  of  illustration,  that  the  railway 
company  begins  with  a  contribution  of  §50,000  or 
Sx 00,000  in  1893  and  is  able  to  add  to  the  fund  yearly, 
so  that  in  1898  it  would  with  interest  accretions  in  the 
one  case  amount  to  about  §300,000  and  in  the  other 
§600,000;  this  would  in  either  case  constitute  a  solid 
and  trustworthy  capital  upon  which  to  commence 
operations.  Then  it  might  be  provided  that  the  sum 
of  $1,000  should  be  paid  to  the  family  of  any  de- 
ceased employee  who  had  performed  faithful  service 
during  that  period.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  it  might 
be  increased  to  §2,000,  at  the  end  of  fifteen  years  to 
§3,000,  and  so  on  until  the  maximum  should  be 
reached.  In  regard  to  pensions  in  cases  of  accident 
and  disability,  a  different  arrangement  would  proba- 
bly be  necessary  according  to  the  circumstances  which 
must  govern  in  such  cases;  but  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  making  mutually  satisfactory  stipulations. 


COOPERATIVE   EXPERIMENTS.  19 

It  is  not  intended  in  this  paper  to  prescribe  details. 
These  would  necessarily  require  careful  considera- 
tion ;  but  the  outlines  here  given  will  convey  to 
the  reader  a  tolerably  correct  idea  of  the  proposi- 
tions. 

Hospital  service  is  already  in  practical  operation  on 
many  of  the  western  lines,  with  excellent  results,  and 
this  would  be  of  course  continued  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  ideal  railway  under  consideration. 

Other  measures  in  the  same  direction  as  those 
already  sketched  will  readily  occur  to  thoughtful  men 
who  take  an  interest  in  the  subject,  but  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  undertake  more  than  would  appear  practi- 
cable in  the  experimental  stages  of  a  plan  of  improve- 
ment as  to  the  merits  of  which  many  may  be  skeptical. 
It  would  be  desirable  perhaps  to  assist  employees  in 
locating  permanent  homes  upon  the  lines  of  the  road, 
but  this  project  would  involve  the  use  of  additional 
funds,  and  should  not  be  considered  until  the  other 
experiments  have  been  thoroughly  tried. 

The  strength  of  the  argument  which  supports  the 
measures  outlined  in  this  paper  lies  in  the  principle  of 
reciprocity.  This  calls  for  faithful  and  continuous 
service  in  return  for  fair  treatment  and  liberal  pros- 
pective advantages.  It  says  to  the  employee:  Our 
obligations  are  mutual  ;  perform  your  part  well  and 
the  company  will  recognize  and  reward  such  service. 
We  consider  your  interests  and  those  of  the  proprie- 
tors identical,  in  many  respects,  and  if  by  superior 
and  continuous  service  you  will  aid  in  producing  sat- 
isfactory results,  we  believe  you  are  entitled  to  the 
benefits  which  your  good  work  assist  in  securing. 


20         RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

If  the  theory  upon  which  the  suggested  improve- 
ment rests  is  well  founded  it  will  unite  the  working 
forces  of  a  railway  in  an  earnest  and  hearty  support 
of  its  administration.  It  will  call  forth  the  best  quali- 
ties of  the  men,  stimulate  zeal  and  activity,  induce 
greater  watchfulness  and  care  and  render  the  entire 
body  of  employees  more  efificient,  more  loyal  and  more 
steadfast.  Men  under  such  conditions  are,  in  a  com- 
parative sense,  working  for  themselves  and  their  fami- 
lies and  would  consequently  be  stimulated  to  the 
highest  exertions  of  which  they  may  be  capable. 

Railway  service  thus  organized  ought  to  be  the 
best  and  therefore  the  most  economical  of  any  in  the 
world.  Antagonism  between  a  corporation  and  its 
employees  would  disappear  and  strikes  would  become 
impossible. 

Such  are  the  advantages  which  the  ideal  railway 
management  advocated  by  this  paper  is  intended  to 
secure.  It  calls  for  no  concession  on  either  side  which 
will  not  be  fully  returned  with  interest,  and  at  the 
same  time  it  embraces  a  scheme  of  improving  the 
condition  of  the  working  classes  in  harmony  with 
justice. 

There  is  but  one  thing  which  renders  this  scheme 
impracticable  at  the  present  time,  and  that  is  in  the 
well  known  fact  that  railway  companies,  to  a  large 
extent,  are  poverty  stricken  by  the  low  rates  which 
they  are  now  obliged  to  accept  for  the  transportation 
of  freight.  This  is  the  great,  overwhelming  obstacle 
to  railway  progress.  It  limits  their  improvement  in 
physical  condition  and  renders  them  powerless  to 
assist  in  any  plans  for  the   benefit  of  their  employees 


COOPERATIVE    EXPERIMENTS.  21 

which  call  for  the  expenditure  of  capital,  no  matter 
how  desirable  they  may  be.  It  is  possible  that  a  few 
companies  in  the  east  could  initiate  movements  of  the 
character  indicated,  but  the  great  majority  of  railway 
lines  west  and  south  will  be  utterly  unable  to  under- 
take such  measures  until  they  can  secure  a  fair  com- 
pensation for  the  services  they  render. 

Is  it  not  lamentable,  is  it  not  almost  a  national 
misfortune,  that  great  public  works  should  be  thus 
prevented  from  undertaking  measures  to  benefit  their 
employees  and  from  making  improvements  in  the 
physical  condition  of  their  properties  commensurate 
with  the  rapid  development  of  the  business  of  the 
country? 

Is  there  no  remedy  for  such  an  unfortunate  state  of 
things?  Or  must  we  conclude  that  nearly  a  million 
of  men  in  the  employ  of  our  railway  companies  must 
abandon  the  hope  of  such  incalculable  advantages  as 
would  be  secured  to  them  by  the  adoption  of  the 
mutual  benefit  scheme  sketched  in  this  article?  If  any 
method  can  be  devised  to  stop  rate-cutting  by  railway 
lines  and  a  moderate  advance  can  be  established  in 
freight  tariffs,  the  remedv  will  be  at  hand,  but  so  long 
as  the  railways  are  engaged  in  mutual  throat-cutting 
competition,  and  so  long  as  legislation  in  Congress  and 
in  the  states  seeks  to  oppress  and  cripple  railway  com- 
panies by  stringent  laws  which  serve  no  useful  pur- 
pose and  take  from  railway  managers  the  power  of 
correcting  the  evils  of  excessive  competition,  there 
can  be  no  substantial  improvement  in  the  situation. 
The  railway  companies  are  partly  responsible  for  this 
deplorable  state  of  things  in  declining  or   neglecting 


22         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

to  act  together  ;  but  the  people  through  their  repre- 
sentatives in  Congress  and  in  State  legislatures  must  be 
held  accountable  for  laws  which  not  only  inflict  a 
great  wrong  upon  owners  of  railway  property  but 
which  effectually  stop  any  movement  for  the  ben- 
efit of  a  very  large  and  meritorious  body  of  working- 
men. 

It  may  be  urged  in  opposition  to  the  suggestions 
in  this  paper  that  railway  companies  will  never  unite 
upon  a  scheme  which  calls  for  a  contribution  from 
their  profits  to  better  the  condition  of  their  employees, 
but,  if  the  theory  is  correct  upon  which  the  proposi- 
tions are  based,  no  concerted  action  is  necessary.  The 
experiment  of  a  single  railway  company  will  settle  the 
question  definitely.  The  contention  here  is  that  a 
railway  operated  under  the  conditions  stated  will  so 
far  excel  all  others  in  the  superiority  of  its  work  and 
in  the  economy  of  its  operation  that  every  line  in  the 
United  States  will  be  forced  to  adopt  the  same  meth- 
ods, to  protect  their  own  interests.  The  difference  in 
favor  of  service  performed  by  men  who  are  working 
for  themselves  and  that  of  men  who  go  through  a 
daily  routine  in  a  perfunctory  way,  taking  no  interest 
in  the  enterprise  which  employs  them  beyond  the  reg- 
ular receipt  of  their  wages,  is  well  known.  It  is  the 
operation  of  a  natural  law  which  governs  humanity  ;  a 
trait  of  selfishness  it  may  be  in  one  sense,  but  in 
another  a  proper  and  generous  instinct  which  prompts 
men  to  protect  and  cherish  the  beings  who  are  most 
dear  to  them  and  largely  dependent  upon  them.  At 
all  events  experience  teaches  us  that  man  works  best 
when  he  works  for  himself,  and  it  is  a  fair  and  reason- 


COOPERATIVE   EXPERIMENTS.  23 

able  conclusion  that  a  railway  operated  by  men  whose 
heads  and  hearts  are  bound  to  it,  not  only  by  self- 
interest  but  by  a  loyal  sentiment  which  the  generous 
consideration  of  the  employing  company  toward  its 
employees  must  inspire,  will  show  much  better  and 
more  economical  work.  The  naked  proposition  to  a 
railway  company  to  pay  out  §50,000  or  $100,000 
annually  for  the  benefit  of  its  employees,  who  are  lib- 
e-ally  paid  already,  would  meet  with  instant  rejection, 
but  if  it  is  a  plan  for  increasing  the  efficiency  of  rail- 
way service  as  well  as  to  provide  a  just  recompense 
for  such  service,  the  question  presents  itself  in  an 
entirely  different  light.  The  experiment  once  thor- 
oughly and  successfully  tried  would  draw  every  railway 
company  in  the  country  into  similar  arrangements  by 
the  attraction  of  its  superior  service,  its  economv  and 
its  generally  progressive  features. 

Taking  a  calm  and  impartial  view  of  the  drift  of 
popular  opinion,  estimating  at  their  real  value  the 
fallacious  and  sometimes  atrocious  theories  and  doc- 
trines advocated  by  extreme  socialists,  should  we  not 
consider  seriously  the  question  of  meeting  these  social 
problems  intelligently  and  practically?  Inhabitants 
of  a  countrv  where  popular  government  reigns, 
wherein  man  is  born  free  and  equal  to  become  as 
unequal  as  he  can,  should  we  not  try  to  demonstrate 
that  man  by  strict  observance  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  our  republican  institutions  can,  by  his 
own  exertions,  acquire  the  highest  positions  and  the 
highest  honors,  and  thus  holding  out  generous  en- 
couragement to  the  industrious  and  the  deserving  and 
doing  all  we  can  to  start  men  in  the  race  of  life,  handi- 


24  RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYES. 

capped  only  by  the  deficiences  of  nature,  shall  we  not 
uproot  and  destroy  the  poisonous  weeds  which  so- 
called  anarchists,  nihilists  and  communists  are  con- 
stantly planting  in  a  soil  to  which  they  are  not  indig- 
enous? 

If  the  image  of  liberty  holds  her  torch  on  high  in 
the  harbor  of  our  principal  seaport  to  enlighten  the 
world,  will  it  not  be  a  graceful  and  exemplary  tribute 
to  all  that  is  good  and  true  in  modern  ideas  of  social 
progress  to  direct  its  luminous  rays  upon  schemes 
which  contemplate  the  elevation  of  the  human  race 
and  especially  upon  those  which  seeek  to  alleviate  the 
hardships  of  the  sons  of  toil? 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE   EVIL    RESULTS   OF   STRIKES. 

Nearly  eighteen  months  since  the  writer,  in  view 
of  the  obvious  impracticability  of  all  the  socialistic 
schemes  which  had  come  under  his  observation,  and 
still  believing  that  humanity  might  derive  some  bene- 
fit from  the  voluntary  adoption  of  measures  which 
might  work  favorably  in  removing,  or  at  least  in  miti- 
gating, the  bitterness  of  the  alleged  antagonism  be- 
tween capital  and  labor,  ventured  to  outline  a  plan 
applicable  in  the  first  instance  to  railway  companies 
and  their  employees,  which,  grounded  upon  mutual 
obligations  and  reciprocal  advantages,  might  open  the 
way  to  harmonious  and  friendly  relations  between 
employers  and  employed. 

Since  that  time  two  extraordinary  strikes  have 
occurred.  One,  during  the  months  of  May  and  June 
among  the  miners  of  bituminous  coal,  extending 
through  five  or  six  states,  and  one  of  recent  occur- 
rence among  the  employees  of  railway  lines  concen- 
trating in  Chicago,  and  extending  over  several  states, 
even  to  the  Pacific  coast.  It  would  be  useless  here  to 
give  details  which  are  fresh  in  the  memory  of  every 
one,  but  it  will  not  be  superfluous  to  touch  upon  the 
character,  the  bearing  and  the  result  of  these  remark- 
able outbreaks.  The  coal  strike  originated  in  Penn- 
sylvania   near   Pittsburgh,  a   locality   which    has  been 

25 


26        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

prolific  in  labor  troubles  and  strikes,  and  here,  it  is 
understood,  a  grievance  existed  in  the  question  of 
wages,  the  merits  of  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss. 
It  is  mentioned  only  to  trace  the  origin  of  a  move- 
ment which  rapidly  extended  to  other  states,  follow- 
ing the  line  of  the  coal  fields  through  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois  and  Missouri,  in  which  states  no  grievance  has 
or  had  been  alleged.  Thus  a  disputed  question  of 
wages  originating  in  Pennsylvania  was  carried  "sym- 
pathetically" through  great  fields  of  labor  in  the  coal 
district  of  the  states  named,  a  distance  of  perhaps  a 
thousand  miles,  and  covering  a  vast  area  of  industry 
in  which  not  a  complaint  had  been  made.  Of  course 
this  extensive  movement  could  have  been  successful 
only  by  a  thorough  organization,  and  this  is  openly 
admitted  and  defended  by  the  leaders  in  charge.  In 
order  to  force  a  settlement  of  a  local  dispute,  the  plan 
carried  into  effect  was  to  organize  sympathetic  strikes 
in  every  mining  district  within  reach,  so  that  by  par- 
alyzing the  industries  of  an  extensive  and  populous 
area,  a  pressure  might  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
employers  in  the  Pennsylvania  district,  and  a  settle- 
ment in  favor  of  the  claims  of  the  miners  in  that 
locality  be  thus  compelled.  That  is  to  say,  other  peo- 
ple and  other  localities  were  to  be  made  to  suffer 
because  the  Pennsylvania  employers  would  not  yield 
to  the  demands  of  their  miners. 

Still  more  strange  and  extraordinary  appears  the 
railway  strike  which  prevailed  during  the  first  two 
weeks  of  July.  A  question  of  wages  having  arisen 
between  the  Pullman  Car  Company  and  its  employees, 
an   organization   called   the  "American    Railwav  Un- 


THE   EVIL   RESULTS   OF   STRIKES.  27 

ion,"  of  recent  origin  and  growth,  interfered  and 
ordered  all  railway  companies  using  Pullman  cars  to 
cease  using  them  under  penalty  of  being  themselves  tied 
up  by  strikes  on  the  part  of  their  operating  forces.  No 
attention  being  paid  to  such  an  absurd  order,  it  was 
followed  by  a  mandate  to  all  employees  on  railways  to 
boycott  these  cars  and  to  leave  the  service  of  compa- 
nies using  them.  The  consequence  was  an  almost 
total  cessation  of  tratfic  in  some  cases,  and  its  serious 
interruption  in  others,  much  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  public  and  the  indignation  of  the  railway  com- 
panies. Here  again  the  "high-pressure"  principle 
appears  to  have  been  called  into  action,  perhaps  upon 
the  theory  of  curing  a  local  disorder  by  spreading  it 
in  all  directions,  that  healthy  people  might  realize  its 
destructive  effects,  and  thus  be  moved  to  influence  or 
to  compel  those  who  resisted  demands  which  they 
had  a  perfect  right  to  resist,  to  yield  to  unjust  and 
tyrannical  dictation. 

In  the  coal  strikes,  because  mine  operators  in  Penn- 
sylvania refused  to  pay  the  wages  demanded  by  the 
miners  in  that  locality,  the  works  in  other  and  distant 
localities  were  summarily  closed,  either  by  voluntary 
action  or  by  the  intimidation  of  bodies  of  the  strikers, 
who  gathered  in  mobs  wherever  there  was  any  dispo- 
sition to  continue  work.  "We  will  not  work  ourselves 
nor  permit  others  to  work,  until  we  carry  our  point," 
was  the  proclaimed  policy  of  the  strikers.  In  the 
railway  strike,  the  same  method  crippled  the  opera- 
tion of  the  roads  and  terrorized  the  men.  But  this 
was  not  all.  Whenever  new  men  were  obtained  to 
work  the   mines  or  to  run   the   trains,  the   malcontent 


28       RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

strikers  gathered  in  force,  maltreated  the  new  men, 
disabled  the  engines,  ditched  the  trains,  and  persisted 
in  a  course  of  obstruction  and  destruction  as  utterly 
lawless  as  any  ever  pursued  by  mobs  of  ruffians.  What 
were  the  results?  First,  a  loss  of  traffic  to  the  rail- 
ways extending  through  May,  June  and  part  of  July  ; 
second,  a  loss  to  the  many  industrial  works  which 
were  obliged  to  close  for  want  of  fuel  ;  third,  a  loss 
to  the  railways  and  the  people  in  the  advanced 
price  of  coal ;  and  fourth,  a  loss  to  the  strikers 
of  their  wages  during  the  strikes.  A  computation 
of  these  losses  would  give  an  aggregate  of  several 
millions  of  dollars  largely  suffered  by  peoj)le  who 
had  no  more  relation  to  the  original  disputants  than 
they  had  to  the  contestants  at  Cripple  Creek  in 
Colorado. 

Who  have  profited  by  these  strikes?  Not  the 
strikers,  for  in  the  case  of  the  coal  miners  they  have 
simply  gone  back  to  work  at  the  same  wages  against 
which  they  struck  ;  not  the  railway  employees,  for  they 
have  lost  good  positions  ;  and,  in  both  cases,  miners 
and  railway  men  have  lost  their  wages  during  the 
strike.  Not  the  railway  companies,  for  they  have  lost 
heavily  in  suspended  traffic  and  the  higher  cost  of 
fuel,  and  certainly  not  the  people,  who  have  had  their 
industries  stopped  and  the  price  of  their  fuel  advanced. 
We  can  find  but  one  class  of  men  who  may  possibly 
have  made  a  profit  out  of  the  coal  strike,  and  these 
are  dealers  who  had  large  stocks  of  coal  on  hand  at 
the  beginning  of  the  trouble  and  who  were  enabled  to 
sell  at  large  profits  when  the  supply  was  checked.  It 
does  not  follow  that  these  men  were   privy  to  the  coal 


THE   EVIL   RESULTS   OF   STRIKES.  29 

strike  or  that  they  encouraged  it,  but  it  shows  a  sim- 
plicity on  the  part  of  the  striking  miners  which  seems 
almost  incredible. 

What  advantage  has  been  gained  by  the  engineers, 
firemen  and  others  who  so  meanly  deserted  their  trains 
without  an  hour's  notice  to  the  employing  companies, 
thus  leaving  passengers  to  suffer  great  inconvenience 
and  perhaps  loss,  to  say  nothing  of  delays  detrimental 
to  health.  They  simply  turned  themselves  out  of 
excellent  situations  where  they  were  well  paid,  to  seek 
for  positions  elsewhere  during  a  period  of  dullness 
when  the  competition  for  desirable  places  is  unusually 
sharp  and  the  number  of  unemployed  unusually  large. 
What  folly! 

It  is  astonishing  that  men  of  any  intelligence  could 
have  been  led  into  such  foolish  acts,  not  only  as  they 
now  appear  to  us,  but  as  they  appeared  to  everyone  at 
the  outset,  except  to  the  deluded  and  cheated  strikers 
themselves.  Still  more  astonishing  does  it  appear 
that  an  organization  like  the  American  Railway  Union 
coming  into  existence,  so  far  as  we  know,  but  little 
more  than  a  year  since,  could  obtain  such  control  and 
wield  such  influence  over  men  in  the  employ  of  rail- 
ways who  were  already  members  of  compact,  well  or- 
ganized and  respectable  brotherhoods,  such  as  the 
Brotherhoods  of  Locomotive  Engineers  and  Firemen, 
both  of  which  have  been  conducted  with  so  much 
intelligence  and  skill  as  to  win  the  respect  of  em- 
ployers and  of  people  generally.  If  any  grievance 
had  been  formulated  and  if  these  brotherhoods  had 
given  countenance  to  the  strike,  it  would  still  have 
been  unwise,  even  reckless,  but  would  not  have  caused 


30  RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

so  much  surprise.  In  this  case,  however,  these  broth- 
erhoods actually  discouraged  the  strike  and  Mr. 
Arthur  of  the  Locomotive  Engineers,  is  reported  to 
have  predicted  its  failure.  At  all  events  these  prac- 
tical and  well  managed  organizations  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  a  strike  which,  from  its  sheer  folly, 
had  failure  written  on  its  face,  commanded  no  pcpular 
sympathy,  and  was  fundamentally  unjust  as  well  as 
impracticable.  The  fact  remains  that  this  "Union" 
of  mushroom  growth,  acquired  within  about  a  twelve- 
months sufficient  control  over  individual  members  of 
the  two  brotherhoods  named  to  tie  up  practically, 
15,000  or  20,000  miles  of  railway  for  a  fortnight. 
Never  before  in  the  history  of  organized  labor  have 
such  causeless  strikes  been  thrust  upon  the  commu- 
nity, and  never  were  failures  more  complete.  The 
lesson  has  been  severe,  but  its  effects  will  be  salutary. 
It  has  taught  the  anarchistic  element  in  this  commu- 
nity that  mob  law  can  not  prevail  here,  and  that  all 
claims  made  upon  employers  by  the  employed,  or  vice 
versa,  must  be  founded  upon  justice  to  have  any 
chance  of  success. 

At  this  point  it  is  pertinent  to  notice  the  error  into 
which  foreign  critics,  and  especially  our  English 
friends,  have  been  led  in  reading  the  graphic  accounts 
of  these  convulsions  sent  by  correspondents  and 
press  dispatches.  The  outbreaks  were  sudden  and  the 
coal  strike  especially,  was  skillfully  organized  and 
boldly  executed.  The  railway  scheme  was  even  more 
desperate,  but  lacked  the  compact  strength  of  the  Coal 
Union,  and  both  were  a  surprise  to  employers  in  their 
suddenness    and    extent.     It  was  a  novel    feature  to 


THE   EVIL   RESULTS   OF    STRIKES.  3' 

make  the  grievance  of  a  local  interest  in  Pennsylvania 
an  excuse  for  stopping  work  at  every  coal  mine  on 
railway  lines  in  the  middle  western  states,  and  it  was 
still  more  startling  and  embarrassing  to  find  organ- 
ized bands  of  the  striking  miners  moving  from  state 
to  state  and  from  mine  to  mine,  in  order  to  force  men 
to  abandon  work  which  they  were  quite  willing  to 
continue.  The  full  extent  of  these  outrages  was  not 
realized  until  these  same  bands  of  desperadoes  under- 
took to  stop  all  trains  carrying  coal,  assaulting  train- 
men and  ditching  cars  to  carry  out  this  purpose. 
Something  like  this  railway  strike  we  had  had  before, 
but  in  both  these  recent  strikes  the  interference  with 
train  movement  was  carried  to  extremities  never  be- 
fore equalled,  especially  on  lines  which  centered  in 
Chicago.  The  very  singular  character  of  the  railway 
strike,  too,  in  attempting  to  force  railway  companies 
to  "boycott"  Pullman  cars,  because  the  Pullman  com- 
pany refused  to  arbitrate  a  question  which,  in  its 
nature,  admitted  of  no  arbitration,  or  in  undertaking 
to  compel  railway  companies  to  take  part  in  a  ques- 
tion which  did  not  concern  them,  seemed  so  absurd 
upon  its  face  that  neither  the  railways  nor  the  public 
looked  upon  the  matter  seriously,  until  the  plans  of 
the  American  Railway  Union  were  more  fully  devel- 
oped. Hence,  at  the  start,  a  degree  of  confusion  and 
alarm  which  would  not  have  prevailed  under  ordinary 
circumstances.  The  absurdity  and  evident  impracti- 
cability of  such  a  strike  threw  employers  off  their 
guard  and  serious  protective  measures  were  not 
adopted  until  the  mischief  had  made  considerable 
progress. 


32  RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    lOMPLOYEES. 

It  was  at  this  stage  that  the  cable  flashed  the  alarm 
notes  across  the  Atlantic,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
conclusions  unfavorable  to  the  stability  and  perma- 
nence of  popular  government  were  suggested  to 
thoughtful  men,  and  doubtless  similar  reflections  have 
been  forced  upon  some  men  of  intelligence  here.  But 
there  is  one  quality  in  this  people  which  foreigners 
are  slow  in  comprehending,  and  which  we  are  apt  to 
forget  even  here,  and  that  is  an  intense  patriotism  and 
love  of  law  and  order  which  often  seems  dormant  in 
exciting  times,  but  which  has  never  yet  failed  to  assert 
itself  at  the  contact  of  real  danger. 

This  peculiarity  was  strikingly  illustrated  in  New 
York  city  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war  in  1861. 
The  city  had  many  southern  sympathizers  and  seces- 
sion talk  was  quite  common,  even  finding  expression 
in  several  of  the  daily  papers,  and  in  the  public  acts 
and  letters  of  the  mayor.  It  was  even  discussed  in 
Boston  whether  eastern  trooj)s  were  safe  from  attack 
in  New  York  streets,  after  the  sixth  Massachusetts 
regiment  had  been  assaulted  by  a  mob  in  Baltimore. 
Suddenly  news  came  that  the  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina, confederates  had  opened  fire  upon  Fort  Sumter. 
The  effect  was  astonishing.  The  whole  city  poured 
its  throngs  into  the  streets  and  into  Union  Square 
where  the  compact  masses  were  addressed  by  half  a 
dozen  orators  from  different  stands,  and  a  tremendous 
outburst  of  patriotism  carried  everything  before  it 
with  the  force  of  a  torrent.  The  next  day  every  sus- 
pected newspaper  office  in  the  city  received  a  visit 
from  portions  of  the  same  crowd  and  was  forced  to 
hang  out  the  American  flag  at  once.     From  that  day 


THE   EVIL   RESULTS  OF   STRIKES.  33 

to  the  end  of  the  war  there  was  never  again  a  (luestion 
of  the  patriotism  of  New  York.  In  that  case  there  was 
some  excuse  for  a  difference  of  opinion,  and  there 
were  many  southerners  and  relatives  of  southerners 
resident  here,  but  that  day  ended  all  secession  talk 
even  in  the  mayor. 

The  sentiment  in  favor  of  law  and  order  in  this 
country  and  the  disposition  to  support  its  government 
is  overwhelmingly  in  the  majority,  even  in  states  where 
populist  governors  have  found  temporary  seats.  It  is 
in  fact  so  overpovveringly  in  control  in  numbers,  intel- 
ligence, respectability,  wealth  and  influence,  that 
opposition  could  muster  but  a  mere  handful  at  any 
serious  emergency.  Populists  and  demagogues  always 
make  the  most  noise  like  bass  drums  in  a  military 
band,  but  like  the  drums  they  are  hollow.  And  so 
with  the  mob  element,  it  is  noisy  and  clamorous,  and 
is  always  led  by  thieves  and  outcasts  who  turn  up  for 
the  occasion,  coming  out  of  their  holes  whenever  an 
opportunity  offers,  but  always  sneaking  back  to  their 
retreats  whenever  the  armed  forces  of  the  law  are  put 
in  motion.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  the  leaders  in  the 
coal  strike  were  almost  entirely  foreigners,  and  in  the 
attack  upon  railway  property  that  element  was  also 
conspicuous,  aided  by  the  thieves  and  roughs  of  Chi- 
cago. There  was  not  a  period  in  either  strike  when 
law  and  order  might  not  have  been  enforced  within 
three  days  in  every  state  in  the  Union,  if  the  authori- 
ties had  met  the  emergency  with  the  proper  forces 
which  were  under  their  control.  But  hesitation  and 
dallying  with  such  dangerous  elements  only  encour- 
ages lawlessness,  and  bloodshed  is  sometimes  the  con- 

3 


34         RAILWAYS   AND    IHKIR    KMPLOYEP:S. 

sequence  when  it  could  have  been  easily  prevented  by 
energetic  action.  The  moment  that  president  Cleve- 
land issued  his  proclamation  and  ordered  United 
States  troops  to  Chicago  the  strike  was  practically  over. 

It  is  particularly  gratifying  at  this  point  to  call  in 
evidence  of  the  underlying  and  dominating  sentiment 
of  patriotism  which  now  controls  the  country  in  all  its 
parts  the  trumpet  tones  of  Senator  Gordon  of  Georgia 
who  served  gallantly  in  the  confederate  army  in  the 
the  contest  between  the  north  and  the  south.  No  un- 
certain words  find  place  in  that  noble  speech.  He  is 
ready  to  fight  for  the  flag  of  his  country  against  any 
foe,  internal  or  external.  Equally  significant,  timely 
and  brave  were  the  indignant  and  scornful  words  sent 
by  Senator  Davis  of  Minnesota,  to  his  silly  correspon- 
dent in  Duluth.  The  whole  country  thrilled  with 
delight  at  these  spontaneous  patriotic  utterances  from 
the  northern  and  southern  extremes  of  the  country. 
Add  to  these  evidences  the  immediate  and  universal 
words  of  approval  of  the  president's  course  from 
almost  the  entire  press  of  the  country,  and  there 
should  remain  no  doubt  of  the  true  status  of  popular 
government  in  the  United  States. 

The  same  impression  doubtless  prevails  in  regard 
to  the  foothold  and  progress  in  this  country  of  the 
doctrines  of  socialism  and  of  its  fungus  growth  of 
anarchism,  but  it  is  distinctly  erroneous  for  somewhat 
analogous  reasons.  The  doctrines  of  pure  socialism, 
so  far  as  they  contemplate  the  improvement  and  ele- 
vation of  suffering  humanity  in  the  social  scale,  may 
find  some  sympathy  with  the  friends  of  popular  gov- 
ernment.    Schemes  to  advance  the  condition  of  the 


THE    EVIL    RESULTS   OF   STRIKES.  35 

laboring  classes,  founded  upon  just  considerations  of 
the  inequality  which  exists  between  the  toiling  masses 
and  the  wealthy,  find  a  ready  response  and  much  en- 
couragement, not  only  with  the  laboring  classes,  but 
with  the  well-to-do-middling  class,  with  the  educated 
and  among  the  wealthy.  In  other  words,  there  is  a 
profound  sympathy  among  the  best  citizens  of  ail 
classes  with  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  those  who 
constitute  the  lower  stratum  of  society,  whether  placed 
in  that  category  by  the  accident  of  birth  or  by  mis- 
fortune. These  last  appear  rather  as  claimants  for 
philanthropic  aid  and  appeals  in  their  behalf  are  sel- 
dom niade  in  vain. 

While,  however,  schemes  for  improving  the  condi- 
tions of  the  industrious  and  deserving  meet  with  pop- 
ular approval  in  a  general  wav,  the  ideas  which  gov- 
ern the  feeling  are  practical  and  always  subordinate  to 
justice,  law  and  order.  Whatever  can,  should  be  done  to 
lighten  the  burdens  of  labor  by  providing  educational 
advantages,  opening  the  paths  of  competition  equally 
to  all,  adding  to  compensation  when  meritorious  and 
faithful  work  deserves  it  and  placing  within  the  reach 
of  the  earnest,  active  and  energetic,  however  humble 
in  station,  fame,  honor  and  competence.  Anything 
which  seeks  to  overthrow  the  social  compact,  whether 
bv  schemes  of  confiscation  and  distribution  of  prop- 
erty or  of  vesting  all  property  and  all  control  in  gov- 
ernment, any  and  all  schemes  of  this  character  meet 
with  no  encouragement  ex'cept  from  extreme  social- 
ists and  cranks,  and  the  teachings  and  doctrines  of 
anarchists  meet  with  universal  scorn  and  detestation. 
Anarchy  has  no  standing  whatever  with  the  great  body 


3^'         RAILWAYS    AND   'llli:ii<    EMPLOYEES. 

of  the  people,  and  its  advocates  are  looked  ujion  with 
horror.  Whenever  the  people  of  this  country  are 
fairly  aroused  to  action  in  consequence  of  crime  and 
outrage  they  will  make  short  work  of  the  anarchists. 
This  craze  has  no  real  foothold  in  this  country.  It  is 
a  pestilent  plant  of  foreign  growth  which  will  never 
take  deep  root  ?iere.  But  while  we  know  that  anarchy 
will  be  extirpated  here,  its  influence  ti])on  socialists  of 
the  mild  type  is  greatly  to  be  deplored.  The  people 
might  meet  the  latter  half  way  in  any  reasonable  pro- 
ject to  harmonize  capital  and  labor,  feeling  that  a 
good  understanding  between  the  two  is  vital  to  the 
success  of  any  method  of  improvement ;  but  there  will 
never  be  any  real  progress  in  this  country  toward  the 
object  in  view  so  long  as  the  schemes  propose  coer- 
cion or  so  long  as  class  is  arrayed  against  class.  Pro- 
jects for  the  improvement  of  the  social  condition  of 
the  human  race,  founded  upon  force,  can  never  be 
successful  here  or  elsewhere,  because  the  proposition 
is  equivalent  to  one  which  contemplates  the  practical 
slavery  of  one  class  to  benefit  another.  Every  lover 
of  liberty  will  always  be  ready  to  risk  his  life  if  neces- 
sary to  preserve  and  perpetuate  to  his  descendants 
the  precious  boon  acquired  by  our  fathers  at  the  cost 
of  so  much  suffering  and  bloodshed.  All  plans  not 
in  harmony  with  our  republican  institutions  and  our 
sacred  rights  are  visionary  and  contain  within  them- 
selves the  seeds  of  their  own  destruction. 

Thoroughly  convinced  of  this,  and  yet  feeling  that 
so  far  as  the  faithful  carrying  out  of  mutual  obliga- 
tions in  life  can  aid  in  giving  equality  of  condition  or 
in  the  acquisition  of    such  equality,   it  is  incumbent 


THE    EVIL   RESULTS   OF   STRIKES.  37 

upon  all  men  to  aid  in  facilitating  movements  which 
may  lead  to  the  desired  end  by  peaceful  and  just  pro- 
cesses. But  the  fundamental  idea  which  must  govern 
such  movements,  in  order  to  stand  any  chance  of  suc- 
cess, must  be  the  recognition  of  reciprocal  duties,  re- 
ciprocal responsibilities  and  mutuality  of  interests, 
.-^sop's  fable  of  the  wagoner,  who  appealed  to  Jupiter 
to  extricate  the  wheels  of  his  wagon  from  the  mud, 
applies  exactly  to  the  case.  In  order  to  be  helped 
put  your  own  shoulders  to  the  wheel  first.  And  thus 
the  employed,  to  acquire  greater  advantages  in  life, 
must  themselves  aid  in  the  work  first,  in  order  to  de- 
serve the  sympathy  and  assistance  of  the  employers. 
This  is  not  to  be  done  by  antagonizing  capital  and 
labor,  employers  and  employed,  but  by  harmonizing 
them  and  making  the  process  of  improvement  mutu- 
ally advantageous.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  interests 
of  the  two  factors  of  industry  are  identical.  It  follows 
as  a  necessary  conclusion  that  the  present  attitude  of 
the  labor  interest  toward  capital  or  the  employing 
interest  is  diametrically  opposed  to  a  peaceful  and 
practical  solution  of  the  problem  involved.  If  the  in- 
terests are  truly  identical,  it  is  obvious  that  hostility 
or  injurv  to  the  employer  cannot  benefit  the  employed 
and  it  is  equally  obvious  that  the  success  of  the  em- 
ployer must  be  a  condition  of  success  for  the  em- 
ployed. 

Upon  these  lines  the  propositions  or  rather  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  writer  were  founded  in  the  previous 
chapter  upon  this  subject.  The  controlling  idea  is  to 
introduce  voluntary  systems  of  cooperative  service, 
upon  the  theory  of  mutual  obligations.     Compliance 


3^         RAILWAYS   AND     IHEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

on  the  j)art  of  employees  with  the  conditions  outlined 
in  that  paper  would,  in  the  case  of  railway  operation, 
secure  to  them  advantages  of  great  value,  while,  ac- 
cording to  the  theory  of  the  writer,  the  adoption  of 
such  a  plan  would  bring  to  the  employing  agency 
compensating  advantages  of  equal  value  and  remove 
all  antagonism  between  two  of  the  great  factors  of 
civilization  and  progress.  No  legislation  is  necessary 
to  accomplish  the  purpose.  Legislation  implies  com- 
pulsion and  an  essential  condition  of  success  is  to  in- 
troduce considerate  measures,  whenever  practicable, 
voluntarily.  It  is  needless  to  urge  the  obvious  inabil- 
ity of  employers  to  adopt  such  plans  while  suffering 
under  losses  which  render  them  powerless  to  under- 
take progressive  movements;  but  in  all  such  schemes 
of  improvement  time  is  needed  to  digest  and  consider 
the  propositions  and  even  though  we  move  slowly  we 
are  gaining  ground  if  people  give  the  matter  calm 
and  deliberate  thought. 

To  review  the  outlined  plan  of  the  first  chapter  and 
to  which  this  refers,  would  occupy  too  much  space  at 
this  time,  and  the  writer  proposes  to  continue  the 
subject  in  another  chapter,  in  which  the  application 
of  the  controlling  principle,  not  only  to  railways,  but 
to  other  industries  and  in  other  ways,  may  also  be 
briefly  touched  upon.  No  more  conclusive  evidence 
of  erroneous  methods  and  shallow  reasoning  is  needed 
than  that  furnished  by  the  recent  strikes.  It  would 
seem  to  be  an  opportune  moment  to  give  these  grave 
problems  the  benefit  of  a  little  plain  common  sense. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MUTUALITY   OF    INTERESTS. 

It  is  often  beneficial,  and  sometimes  instructive,  to 
submit  tentative  propositions  to  popular  criticism.  In 
this  way  errors  in  the  construction  of  a  scheme  may 
be  suggested  which  will  clear  the  way  to  a  better  un- 
derstanding of  its  aims  and  purposes.  Thus  my  first 
paper  on  "Railway  companies  and  their  employees," 
which  appeared  in  The  Railway  Age,  more  than  a 
year  since,  has  drawn  out  comments  and  suggestions 
which  render  a  further  discussion  of  the  subject  essen- 
tial to  its  intelligent  consideration.  A  large  share  of 
these  criticisms  were  favorable,  but  here  and  there 
doubts  as  to  the  sincerity  of  the  propositions  have 
been  expressed,  and  sometimes  with  unpleasant  frank- 
ness. Recognizing  the  utility  of  popular  investiga- 
tion and  fully  appreciating  the  value  of  the  views  of 
practical  men,  it  has  appeared  to  me  desirable  to  rein- 
force the  propositions  of  my  first  article  by  addi- 
tional arguments  and  explanations  which  may  make 
the  scheme  appear  more  acceptable,  both  to  employ- 
ers and  employed. 

A  social  question  confronts  the  civilized  world;  a 
question  which  involves  the  adjustment  of  the  rela- 
tions between  labor  and  capital,  and  it  presents  itself 
more  conspicuously  and  in  a  more  formidable  shape 
than  ever  before. 

39 


40         RAILWAYS    AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

In  Kurope  it  is  a  more  threatening  factor  of  dis- 
turbance than  in  this  country,  and  in  that  part  of  the 
continent  where  monarchical  governments  are  the 
most  absolute,  the  struggle  is  likely  to  be  attended  by 
tumult  and  bloodshed,  which,  under  popular  govern- 
ment, can  be  avoided.  This  conclusion  is  based  upon 
the  idea  that  underlying  this  question  between  labor 
and  capital  in  Europe  and  adding  to  its  strength  and 
virulence,  runs  the  current  of  protest  against  the  po- 
litical as  well  as  social  inequality  of  the  people.  And 
thus,  that  portion  of  Europe  which  adheres  to  even  a 
qualified  absolutism  in  its  form  of  government  is  the 
hotbed  and  nursery  of  the  extremists  who  lead  most 
offensively  in  the  ranks  of  socialism  under  the  names 
of  anarchists,  nihilists  and  communists.  The  solution 
of  this  great  problem  in  Europe,  it  is  needless  to  dis- 
cuss here;  the  end  is  not  within  sight  of  the  present 
generation,  and  even  if  we  conclude  that  governments 
by  the  people  will  eventually  prevail,  human  foresight 
can  not  fix  the  period  of  its  accomplishment.  This 
view  of  the  status  of  socialism  in  Europe,  as  compared 
with  its  growth  and  existence  in  the  United  States, 
will  not,  perhaps,  be  shared  by  Europeans  who  look 
upon  the  surface  of  popular  movements  in  this  country 
and  think  they  detect  in  them  a  condition  of  society 
dangerous  to  the  stability  of  republican  government ; 
but  this  conclusion  is  not  accepted  by  those  who  have 
carefully  studied  the  subject  on  the  spot,  for  reasons 
given  in  my  last  paper. 

The  true  solution  of  the  social  problem,  under  con- 
sideration in  this  paper,  is  to  be  found,  I  think,  in  a 
cooperation  between  employers  and  emploved,  which 


MUTUALITY    OF    INTERESTS.  41 

implies  mutual  obligations  and  reciprocal  advantages. 
There  can  be  no  valid  objection  on  the  part  of  em- 
ployers to  propositions  which  contemplate  extending 
to  employees  a  fair  share  of  the  profits  of  any  enter- 
prise in  the  prosecution  of  which  they  are  mutually 
engaged;  but  it  is  an  indispensable  condition  of  such 
an  arrangement,  that  employees  should  in  return  either 
share  in  the  risks  and  losses  of  employers,  or  that  bv 
faithful  and  continuous  service  the  employed  should 
fairly  earn  any  advantages  which  may  be  conceded  to 
them.  Generally  speaking,  working  men  are  not  so 
situated  as  to  be  able  to  share  in  the  losses  of  manu- 
facturing, trade  or  transportation,  and,  therefore,  their 
responsibility  in  schemes  which  offer  them  greater  ad- 
vantages must  be  limited  to  meritorious  service.  To 
the  extent  which  in  this  way  they  can  add  to  the  pros- 
perity of  any  enterprise,  the  managers  of  the  enter- 
prise can  afford  to  advance  their  interests,  but  so  long 
as  the  relations  between  the  two  factors  in  industrial 
development,  the  employers  and  employees,  are  not 
harmonious,  l)ut  occasionally  antagonistic;  so  long  as 
the  important  fact  of  mutual  interest  and  dependence 
is  ignored  on  both  sides,  it  is  useless  to  urge  the  prin- 
ciple of  cooperation.  The  vital  element  in  coopera- 
tive movements  is  in  the  amalgamation  of  the  entire 
working  forces  of  an  enterprise,  whether  mental  or 
physical,  so  that  every  i)art  of  its  machinery  will  con- 
tribute to  the  general  good,  and  so  that  the  interest  of 
one  is  the  interest  of  all.  When  it  is  considered  that 
employees,  on  the  one  hand,  must  depend  largely  upon 
the  prosperity  of  the  employers,  and  on  the  other 
that  the  success  of  an   industrial  enterprise   must,  to 


42         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

a  great  extent,  depend  upon  the  intelligence,  ability 
and  faithful  services  of  the  employees,  there  should  be 
no  serious  difficulty  in  securing  the  requisite  haruiony 
of  the  parts. 

To  give  a  practical  illustration  of  this  idea,  let  us 
take  the  case  of  the  employer,  supposed  to  be  a  man- 
ufacturer, who  says: 

"  If  I  can  secure  greater  intelligence,  greater  indus- 
try and  greater  skill,  I  can  utilize  these  valuable  ser- 
vices so  as  to  add  to  the  superiority  of  my  fabrics  and 
economize  in  their  cost,  and  thus  add  to  my  profits,  I 
can  well  afford  to  distribute  annually  a  fair  propor- 
tion of  these  profits  to  the  working  men  who  have  en- 
abled me  to  obtain  this  success.  It  is  for  my  interest 
to  encourage  these  people  who  are  trying  to  make  our 
enterprise  a  success,  and  I  will  do  it  with  great  pleas- 
ure. We  have  but  one  object  in  view,  and  that  is  to 
succeed,  and  in  that  success  to  which  they  contribute 
so  much,  they  should  participate." 

On  the  other  hand  the  employee  says:  "My  em- 
ployer is  willing  to  give  me  some  share  of  his  profit 
beyond  my  wages,  if  he  is  successful,  and  believes  that 
I  have  aided  to  the  best  of  mv  ability  in  securing  that 
success,  and  I  propose  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  my 
best  exertions,  hoping  to  aid  in  making  his  enterprise 
prosperous.  We  are  all  engaged  in  a  work  in  the  suc- 
cess of  which  we  are  all  interested." 

If  such  relations  can  be  established  between  em- 
ployers and  employed,  and  the  conditions  fairlv  car- 
ried out,  would  it  not  go  far  toward  solving  the  social 
problem  satisfactorily? 

Changing   the  conditions  to  correspond  with  the 


MUTUALITY   OF    INTERESTS.  43 

different  character  of  the  industry,  we  can  carry  the 
principle  into  all  the  branches  of  human  work  which 
are  distributed  between  those  who  employ  and  those 
who  are  employed,  and  in  each  we  can  so  blend  the 
operating  agencies  that  but  one  interest  will  animate 
and  govern  it.  Who  cannot  see  in  such  a  change  the 
dawn  of  a  more  perfect  civilization  and  the  promise  of 
peaceful  and  happy  relations  between  the  two  great 
motors  in  human  progress — the  two  powers  which  are 
indispensable  to  each  other — as  well  as  the  realization 
of  a  large  share  of  the  expectations  of  reasonable 
socialists?  I  say  "reasonable  socialists"  because  it  is 
to  such  only  that  I  can  appeal  with  any  chance  of 
approval.  To  those  who  expect  to  carry  out  their 
theories  and  accomplish  their  purposes  by  force,  with- 
out regard  to  justice,  or  to  those  who  are  committed 
to  schemes  w^hich  disregard  the  plainest  rights  of  a 
large  body  of  their  fellow  citizens,  I  have  nothing  to  say. 
The  proposition  outlined  in  this  paper  contem- 
plates the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  working  classes 
from  conditions  of  inequality,  so  far  as  practicable,  by 
inviting  their  hearty  cooperation  in  a  plan  of  mutual 
obligations  and  mutual  responsibilities.  It  removes 
the  artificial  barriers  which  stand  in  the  path  of  pro- 
gressive intelligence  and  praiseworthy  effort.  It 
extends  a  friendly  hand  to  all  who  may  deserve  en- 
couragement and  success,,  and  opens  the  avenues  to 
preferment  and  honor  to  all  who  may  be  worthy  of 
such  distinction;  but  it  lends  no  aid  to  the  idle  and 
incompetent.  Merit  is  recognized  and  rewarded 
according  to  its  just  claim,  but  no  provisions  are  made 
for  the  lazy  or  dissolute.      In  short,  the  ruling  idea  is, 


41         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

that  if  man  needs  help,  he  must  llrst  exert    himself  in 
order  to  deserve  it. 

The  ways  leading  to  a  practical  accomplishment  of 
this  plan  are  numerous,  and  although,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  the  movements  must  for  a  time  be  experi- 
mental, there  is  no  insurmountable  obstacle  to  com- 
plete success.  In  his  first  paper  the  aim  of  the  writer 
was  to  demonstrate  the  practicability  and  the  advan- 
tage of  working  out  a  scheme  of  improving  the  con- 
dition and  prospects  of  railway  employees  by  a  care- 
fully devised  system  of  compensating  meritorious  and 
faithful  service  by  judicious  promotion,  pensions  and 
life  insurance,  upon  the  theory  of  reciprocal  benefits 
to  employer  and  employed.  All  human  experience 
teaches  us  that  the  best  efforts  of  men  are  stimulated 
by  the  promise  of  gain  in  position  and  worldly  condi- 
tions. The  hope  of  something  higher  and  better  in 
life  is  a  constant  incentive  to  exertion,  and  under 
such  circumstances  the  most  successful  results  can  be 
obtained.  The  difference  in  the  work  of  a  umn  who 
feels  that  he  is  qualifying  himself  for  promotion  and, 
at  the  same  time,  is  establishing  a  claim  for  the  pro- 
tection or  relief  of  his  family,  and  in  that  of  one  who 
performs  his  daily  routine  of  service  in  stereotyped 
form  with  the  regularity  and  the  indiffe.rence  of  a 
horse  on  the  treadmill,  satisfied  with  having  performed 
his  allotted  share  of  work  for  a  stipulated  compensa- 
tion, is  suflficiently  obvious.  To  this  stoical  workman 
the  idea  of  contributing  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
agency  which  employs  him,  except  in  the  perfunctory 
discharge  of  his  duties  in  exchange  for  the  means  of 
subsistence,  never  occurs  and  is  never  realized  unless 


MUTUALITY    OF    INTERESTS.  45 

by  some  sudden  calamity  the  industry  fails  and  he  is 
thrown  out  of  work.  This  is  perfectly  natural  when 
the  reflection  in  the  mind  of  the  workman  is  that  he 
is  employed  as  an  indispensable  part  of  a  great 
machine  which  cannot  be  operated  without  him,  and 
which  must  pay  him  through  good  times  and  bad. 
The  change  which  my  suggestions  contemplate  is  the 
conversion  of  this  working  intelligence  from  a  condi- 
tion of  apathy  and  indifference  to  one  of  active  inter- 
est, by  devoting  a  share  of  the  results  of  successful 
operation  to  the  care  and  comfort  of  the  faithful  and 
deserving.  The  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
employee  who  feels  that  he  has  something  at  stake  in 
the  excellence,  efificiency  and  economy  of  railway 
service,  over  that  of  mere  routine  work  which  has  no 
expectation  beyond  monthly  wages,  is  too  apparent  to 
require  argument,  and  this  improvement  is  precisely 
the  object  of  this  paper.  Instead  of  holding  out 
inducements  to  working  men,  however,  in  promises  of 
benefits  to  be  secured  without  corresponding  return  in 
the  character  of  the  service,  the  plan  holds  out  expec- 
tation of  reward  only  to  those  who  may  win  it  by 
faithful,  superior  and  continuous  work,  and  instead  of 
calling  upon  railway  companies  to  sacrifice  anything 
by  the  contributions  which  the  plan  would  require, 
the  claim  is  confidently  urged  that  every  dollar  thus 
expended  would  be  returned  with  compound  interest 
in  the  more  efficient,  careful  and  continuous  service 
of  the  employees  whose  cooperation  it  is  designed  to 
secure. 

Promotion  from  the  existing  working  force,  accord- 
ing to  merit  and  ability,  whenever  practicable,  systems 


46         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES.      . 

of  hospital  service  and  of  pensions  and  life  insurance, 
judiciously  and  equitably  arranged  according  to  merit 
and  length  of  service,  are  the  leading  features  of  the 
cooperation  suggested  to  railway  management,  and 
they  call  for  no  sacrifice,  if  better  service  leads  to 
more  economical  operation.  Nor  are  there  any  real 
obstacles  to  the  adoption  of  such  a  plan  except  in  the 
scanty  profits  of  the  railways  which,  in  most  cases, 
would  at  present  interfere  with  the  necessary  appro- 
priations. 

Why,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  discuss  the  merits  of  a 
scheme  which  cannot  be  carried  into  practical  opera- 
tion at  once  ?  My  reply  is,  that  such  projects  always 
require  thorough  examination,  and  that  although 
railway  companies  may  be  too  poor  to  adopt  schemes 
which  require  further  expenditures  of  money  no.w,  I 
do  not  believe  in  the  poverty  of  railways  as  a  perma- 
nent condition.  Several  powerful  agencies  are  at 
work,  even  now,  to  change  this  condition.  One  of 
these  is  to  be  seen  in  the  limited  construction  of 
further  superfluous  competing  lines,  which  will  per- 
mit the  transportation  demand  to  giow  up  to  the 
capacity  of  existing  lines;  another,  in  the  increasing 
disposition  of  railway  managers  to  reject  unprofitable 
freight,  forced  upon  them  by  the  stress  of  competition; 
and  the  third  is  in  the  change  in  popular  sentiment  as 
to  railway  legislation.  If  these  impressions  are  cor- 
rect, it  is  not  premature  to  take  into  consideration 
any  and  all  plans  of  progressive  movement  in  railway 
operations,  and  especially  those  which  propose  to 
identify,  as  closely  as  possible,  the  interests  of  em- 
ployers and  employed. 


MUTUALITY   OF    INTERESTS.  47 

The  distinctive  feature  of  the  arrangement  herein 
proposed  is  in  its  mutuality  of  action  and  benefit.  It 
demands  no  concessions  for  employees  which  will  not 
be  earned  bv  them,  and  it  may  be  fairly  considered, 
in  the  long  run,  as  one  of  the  most  economical  and 
productive  investments  which  railway  companies  can 
make.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  errors  on  the 
part  of  those  who  represent  the  so-called  working 
classes,  is  in  giving  to  mechanical  labor  too  promi- 
nent a  position  in  general  industrv.  The  idea  seems 
prevalent  that  men  who  are  occupied  in  sedentary 
pursuits  or  who  follow  a  professional  life,  are  not  to 
be  included  as  forming  a  part  of  the  real  labor  ele- 
ment. Therefore  nearly  all  socialistic  schemes  of  im- 
provement appear  to  ignore  mental  labor,  as  if  it  had 
no  claim  to  consideration  in  comparison  with  manual 
work,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  our  cities  are  filled 
with  men  struggling  as  hard  and  often  much  harder 
for  existence  as  traders,  accountants,  clerks,  stenogra- 
phers, etc.,  as  the  men  who  run  railway  trains  or  work 
in  railway  shops  and  yards.  The  auditor's  depart- 
ment of  a  railway  company  is  filled  with  hard-work- 
ing clerks,  but  moderately  paid,  and  all  such  clerks  in 
the  various  departments  are  entitled  to  just  as  much 
consideration  in  plans  of  amelioration  as  the  men  who 
work  in  the  shops  or  on  the  track.  In  the  higher 
grades  of  service,  too,  whether  the  larger  compensa- 
tion gives  the  incumbent,  in  that  respect,  an  advan- 
tage or  not,  he  is  entitled  to  be  considered  not  only  a 
part  of  the  working-class,  but  a  very  important  part. 
Without  men  competent  to  fill  these  high  positions 
the  operating  forces  of  a  railway  would  be  as  helpless 


4^         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

as  children,  except  in  the  routine  work  which  they  are 
called  upon  to  do. 

It  is  no  disparagement  to  skilled  mechanics  to  sav 
this.  Each  part  of  a  working  force  is  important  in  its 
place  and  deserves  full  recognition,  but  there  can  be 
no  substantial  progress  in  the  condition  of  the  work- 
ing classes  if  they  fail  to  appreciate  the  utility  and  in- 
fluence of  brain  work  and  clerical  service.  Perhaps  it 
is  not  quite  fair  to  attribute  such  selfish  distinctions 
to  the  workingmen  who  belong  to  the  various  labor 
organizations,  but  as  the  loudest  complaints  always 
seem  to  come  from  those  who  do  manual  work  and  as 
fn  their  movements  to  regulate  the  conditions  of  em- 
ployment they  do  not  appear  to  consider  those  who 
fill  other  positions  in  the  same  industrial  agency  as 
sharing  in  the  grievances  which  they  occasionally  pre- 
sent, the  natural  inference  is  that  they  are  apt  to  give 
themselves  too  much  prominence  in  the  machinery  of 
which  they  are  but  a  part.  In  a  system  of  cogwheels 
and  levers  each  piece  has  its  share  of  work,  and  what 
might  appear  to  be  the  smallest  and  most  insignificant 
wheel  of  the  system  may  be  of  importance  enough  to 
throw  the  whole  machinery  out  of  gear  if  dislocated 
or  obstructed,  and  sometimes  brains  will  accomplish 
what  mere  physical  power  could  not. 

At  all  events,  the  plan  which  has  been  outlined  in 
these  papers,  so  far  as  it  applies  to  railway  companies, 
is  intended  to  include  all  employees  in  their  service, 
whether  employed  in  skilled  or  unskilled  manual 
labor  or  in  clerical  work,  just  as  now  they  share  in  the 
benefits  of  the  hospital  system,  if  they  choose  to  avail 
of  their  privileges.      It  might   and  probably  would  be 


MUTUALITY   OF    INTERESTS.  49 

necessary  to  make  some  distinction,  especially  in  pen- 
sions, according  to  the  character  and  service  and  the 
greater  liability  to  accident  in  one  branch  of  it  over 
another,  and  it  would  undoubtedly  be  just  and  neces- 
sary to  discriminate  as  to  life  insurance  in  favor  of 
married  men  ;  but  these  are  minor  points  which  be- 
long to  the  details  which  are  not  essential  to  consider 
until  the  general  scheme  is  adopted  and  it  becomes 
necessary  to  formulate  the  working  plan. 

The  writer  considers  voluntary  contribution  by  the 
employing  companies  vital  to  the  success  of  the 
scheme,  for  in  that  way  alone  can  the  company  con- 
trol the  fund  and  maintain  the  conditions  of  the  com- 
pact. If  salaries  and  wages  are  assessed,  as  under  the 
existing  hospital  service,  the  contributors  to  the  fund, 
held  in  trust  for  their  benefit,  could  doubtless  claim  a 
life  interest  in  it,  or  it  might  at  least  lead  to  compli- 
cated legal  questions  which  it  would  not  be  wise  to 
invite,  nor  would  it  then  be  so  clearly  in  the  power  of 
the  company  to  hold  employees  strictly  to  the  terms  of 
the  agreement.  This  control,  while  it  would  be  defined 
and  limited  by  the  stipulations  clearly  set  forth  in  the 
contract,  would  be  the  most  important  feature  of  the 
plan.  It  is  probably  safe  to  say  that  the  principal 
anxiety  of  good  men  who  work  for  a  living  is  to  pro- 
vide something  for  their  families,  if  they  are  married, 
or  if  unmarried  for  those  who  are  dependent  upon 
them.  It  is  seldom  we  meet  with  men  who  do  not 
belong  to  one  of  these  two  classes,  and  therefore  the 
disposition  to  save  something  to  guard  against  sick- 
ness, accident  or  premature  death,  or  to  acquire  in 
the  period  of  vigorous  manhood  something  as  a 
4 


so         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

provision  against  the  wealcness  and  infirmities  of  old 
age. 

The  theory  of  the  plan  in  the  matter  of  life  insur- 
ance and  pensions  is  therefore  to  avail  of  this  influ- 
ence, so  creditable  to  human  nature,  to  work  out  the 
cooperative  principle.  The  employee  enters  upon 
duties  which  he  agrees  to  perform  faithfully  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability.  If  he  keeps  his  part  of  the 
agreement  he  knows  that  he  will  secure  to  his  family 
or  to  those  who  are  dependent  upon  him,  a  certain 
sum  of  money  in  case  of  death  and  a  certain  pension 
in  case  of  accident,  and  this  would  be  the  equivalent 
of  saving  money  to  provide  for  those  whom  he  might 
otherwise  leave  destitute — the  fear  of  which  constantly 
haunts  him.  He  would  still  be  at  liberty  to  save  from 
his  wages  all  he  can,  but  he  would  be  always  encour- 
aged and  sustained  in  his  work  by  the  consoling 
thought  that  he  is  earning  an  insurance  fund  for  his 
dear  ones  beyond  the  reach  of  debt  or  temporary  re- 
verse of  fortune,  and  he  would  be  all  the  time  accu- 
mulating this  "safety  fund"  by  his  own  exertions, 
without  paying  the  onerous  premiums  which  life  in- 
surance involves,  or  contributing  toward  it  from  his 
own  wages. 

The  employing  company  having  made  a  fair  and 
liberal  contract  with  him,  it  would  be  in  his  power  to 
increase  the  eventual  compensation  by  his  zeal  and 
constancy.  Surelv,  this  is  something  for  a  man  to 
work  fori  Surely,  this  would  call  forth  his  best  exer- 
tions in  the  service  of  the  companv,  and  is  it  not 
equally  certain  that  men  stimulated  by  this  promised 
reward  would  render  better  service  than  under  the  for- 


MUTUALITY   OF   INTERESTS.  51 

mer  system?  Would  not  a  body  of  employees,  thus 
encouraged  and  rewarded,  make  the  best  operating 
force  attainable? 

Not  long  since  a  prominent  and  intelligent  citizen 
of  Chicago  suggested  the  passage  of  an  act  of  con- 
gress, under  which  railway  companies  would  be  com- 
pelled to  appropriate  a  certain  amount  from  their 
earnings  annually  for  life  insurance  and  pensions  for 
their  employees.  This  would  not  harmonize  with  the 
fundamental  idea  of  this  plan,  which  is  to  require 
from  employees  reciprocity  in  improved  service  and 
fidelity  for  advantages  guaranteed  in  return.  To 
compel  such  provision  on  the  part  of  railway  com- 
panies would  destroy  the  mutuality  of  interests  upon 
which  the  scheme  is  founded.  Such  a  law  passed  by 
congress  would  probably  be  unconstitutional,  as  it 
would  be  the  assumption  of  control  over  profits  earned 
by  corporations,  with  which  congress  has  no  right  to 
meddle;  but  even  if  it  were  constitutional  and  practi- 
cable, it  would  not  accomplish  the  object  which  the 
plan  contemplates.  Voluntary  appropriations  of  a 
portion  of  annual  profits  can  only  be  secured  by  dem- 
onstrating the  mutual  advantages  to  be  obtained. 
No  railway  company  could  afford  to  use  any  of  its 
earnings  in  this  way,  if  it  could  not  justify  the  expen- 
diture of  securing  to  the  owners  of  the  property  bet- 
ter and  more  economical  service  thereby. 

The  only  claim  to  originality  in  this  plan  is  in  its 
propositions  to  establish  mutuality  of  interests  between 
those  who  employ  and  those  who  are  employed,  but  if 
compulsion  is  attempted,  as  it  would  be  in  this  sug- 
gested act  of  congress,  there  would  be  nothing  mutual 


52         RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

about  it  whatever.  It  would  simply  force  upon  em- 
ployers an  expenditure  which  would  be  regarded  by 
those  employed  as  a  part  of  their  legal  rights,  just  as 
much  belonging  to  them  as  their  wages,  and  they 
would  consequently  feel  under  no  obligations  to 
cooperate  with  their  employers  by  giving  more  efifi- 
cient  and  faithful  work.  The  enactment  of  such  an 
arbitrary  law  would  be  quite  as  unjust  as  a  "sympa- 
thetic" strike,  or  any  strike  without  a  real  grievance, 
where  the  object  is  simply  to  force  an  advance  in 
wages,  whether  the  business  of  the  employer  will  war- 
rant the  advance  or  not.  The  same  position  was 
taken  by  the  employees  of  the  Pullman  company  and 
by  the  American  Railway  Union,  and  is  just  as  unten- 
able as  an  act  of  congress  as  it  was  in  the  acts  of  the 
parties  to  the  Pullman  controversy.  Whenever  con- 
gress undertakes  to  appropriate  the  earnings  of  em- 
ployers, whether  corporate  or  individual,  or  to  confis- 
cate the  property  of  one  class  of  its  constituents  to 
benefit  another,  it  will  be  dangerously  near  to  a  tyr- 
anny which  would  be  intolerable  under  a  popular 
government.  It  is  the  object  of  the  writer  to  suggest 
a  method  of  peaceful  adjustment  of  these  much  vexed 
and  troublesome  labor  questions,  which  might  be 
voluntarily  adopted  by  employers,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  be  acceptable  to  employees.  The  element  of 
force  has  no  place  in  this  method,  and  its  attempted 
use  would  at  once  restore  an  antagonism  between  the 
two  interests  of  labor  and  capital,  which,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  writer,  is  incongruous,  absurd  and  entirely 
unnecessary. 

If  there  is  to  be  any  real  advance  in  civilization,  as 


MUTUALITY   OF   INTERESTS.  53 

far  as  it  touches  the  interests  of  the  working  classes, 
or  any  permanent  improvement  in  their  condition,  it 
will  come  from  voluntary  and  harmonious  movement 
and  peaceful  measures.  Tyranny  in  legislation,  tyr- 
anny in  mobs  or  tyranny  in  strikes  will  be  resisted,  so 
long  as  the  power  of  resistance  exists,  and  so  long  as 
the  government  of  this  country  is  administered  upon 
the  theory  of  equal  rights  guaranteed  bv  our  consti- 
tution and  expressed  in  our  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EXAMPLES   OF   PRACTICAL  COOPERATION. 

The  plan  adopted  by  the  Pennsylvania  railroad 
company  for  the  benefit  of  its  employees  has  been  in 
operation  since  1886,  and  is  the  best  and  most  care- 
fully prepared  of  any  which  has  come  under  the  ob- 
servation of  the  writer.  It  is  probably  as  perfect  as 
any  which  can  be  devised,  under  contributions  from 
the  employees,  and  it  seems  admirably  adapted  to  its 
purpose.  While,  therefore,  the  preference  of  the 
writer  is  for  a  scheme  which  will  provide  the  entire 
fund  from  the  earnings  of  the  company,  it  would  cer- 
tainly be  a  step  in  the  right  direction  to  introduce  the 
method  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad  company  when- 
ever the  proposed  appropriations  from  company 
profits  are   impracticable. 

This  branch  of  administration  is  called  "The  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  Voluntary  Relief  Department,"  but 
while  it  is  distinct  and  separate  from  the  general 
operation  of  the  road,  it  is  still  intimately  connected 
with  the  affairs  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  its  allied 
companies.  The  salient  features  of  the  working  plan 
may  be  briefly  outlined  as  follows  : 

I.  In  order  to  become  a  member  of  the  relief  fund 
it  is  necessary  for  an  employee  to  make  formal  appli- 
cation according  to  printed  blanks  which  are  fur- 
nished, and  in  this  application  he  agrees  to  be  bound 

54 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.     55 

by  the  regulations  of  the  relief  department,  and  also 
agrees  to  contribute  from  his  wages  as  provided  by 
these  regulations  "  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
benefits  provided  for  in  the  regulations."  In  the  ap- 
plication, which  is  in  fact  a  contract  with  the  company, 
the  employee  releases  the  company  from  all  claims  for 
damages  for  personal  injury  or  death,  in  consideration 
of  the  benefits  of  the  relief  fund.  The  contract  pro- 
vides also  that  if  the  applicant  ceases  to  be  an  employee, 
he  forfeits  his  membership  "and  all  benefits,  rights  or 
equities  arising  therefrom"  except  such  benefits  as  he 
may  "have  become  entitled  to  by  reason  of  accident 
or  sickness  occurring  while  in  the  service." 

2.  In  the  language  of  the  regulations,  "The  object 
of  the  department  is  the  establishment  and  arrange- 
ment of  a  fund  to  be  known  as  'the  relief  fund'  for 
the  payment  of  definite  amounts  to  employees  contrib- 
uting to  the  fund,  who  under  the  regulations  shall  be 
entitled  thereto,  when  they  are  disabled  by  accident 
or  sickness,  and  in  the  event  of  their  death,  to  the 
relations  or  other  beneficiaries  specified  in  the  appli- 
cation of  such  employees." 

3.  The  relief  fund  is  formed  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions from  employees;  appropriations  by  the  company 
when  necessary  to  make  up  any  deficit;  income  from 
the  fund  and  such  gifts  or  legacies  as  may  be  received. 

4.  The  company  takes  general  charge  of  the  de- 
partment; guarantees  its  obligations  under  the  regula- 
tions; takes  charge  of  the  fund  and  is  responsible  for 
its  safe  keeping.  The  company  supplies  also  the  nec- 
essary facilities  for  conducting  the  business  of  the  de- 
partment, and  pays  all  its  operating  expenses. 


56         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

5.  The  general  manager  is,  ex-officio,  chairman  of 
an  advisory  committee  which  is  elected  annually.  The 
contributing  employees  elect  three  members  of  this 
committee  from  their  own  numbers,  the  board  of  di- 
rectors of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad  company  three, 
and  these  with  the  chairman  constitute  the  committee. 
This  advisory  committee  has  general  charge  and  su- 
pervision of  the  operations  of  the  department. 

6.  Members  of  the  relief  fund  are  classified  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  of  their  regular  pay  per  month  as 
follows: 

ist  class.  Those  receiving  not  more  than  S40; 

2nd  class.  Those  receiving  more  than  $40  and  not 
more  than  $60; 

3rd  class.  Those  receiving  more  than  $60  and  not 
more  than  $80; 

4th  class.  Those  receiving  more  than  S80  and  not 
more  than  $100; 

5th  class.  Those  receiving  more  than  $100. 

7.  No  employee  is  required  to  become  a  member  of 
the  relief  fund.  It  is  entirely  voluntary.  Employees 
may  become  members,  if  not  over  45  years  of  age,  un- 
der a  higher  classification  than  that  determined  by 
his  pay,  if  he  has  been  continuously  in  the  service  of 
the  company  for  five  years,  including  membership  of 
the  relief  fund  for  one  year,  immediately  prior  to  his 
supplemental  application  for  admission  to  such  higher 
classification.  Medical  examination  is  one  of  the  pre- 
liminaries to  membership,  as  good  physical  condition 
is  one  of  the  requisites  in  the  scheme  of  relief. 

8.  Members  may  withdraw  from  the  relief  fund  by 
giving  notice  prior  to  the  25th  of  any  month,  and  af- 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.     57 


ter  such  withdrawal  the  obligations  and  rights  in  con- 
nection with  the  fund  cease  at  the  close  of  the  month 
in  which  the  notice  was  given. 

9.  The  monthly  contributions  are  graduated  accord- 
ing to  the  classification.  The  first  class  pays  75  cents 
per  month,  the  second  class  $1.50,  thethird  $2.25,  the 
fourth  $3.00  and  the  fifth  $3.75. 

10.  Members  are  entitled  to  the  following  benefits: 
First,  in  case  of  disability  by  accident  in  the  com- 
pany's service,  50  cents  per  day  for  a  period  not  ex- 
ceeding 52  weeks  for  members  of  the  first  class,  and 
proportionately  larger  amounts  for  members  of  the 
other  classes  according  to  the  contributions,  and  half 
of  these  rates  after  52  weeks,  during  the  continuance 
of  the  disability.  In  case  of  sickness,  the  allowance 
is  40  cents  per  day  for  the  first  class  and  proportion- 
ately larger  for  the  other  classes,  as  in  the  case  of  ac- 
cident, and  for  the  same  period. 

II.  In  case  of  death  the  payments  are  to  first  class 
S250,  second  $500,  third  $750,  fourth  gi,ooo,  fifth 
$1,250. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  amount  of  the 
contributions  and  benefits  of  the  several  classes: 


First 
class. 

Second 

class. 

Third 
class. 

Fourth 
class. 

Fifth 
class. 

Highest  monthly  pay  for 
each  class 

Rates  of  contribution  per 
month 

Accident  benefits  per  day, 
first  52  weeks 

$  40.00 

•75 

•SO 
•25 

.40 

$250.00 

$  60.00 

1.50 

1.00 
•50 

.80 

$  80.00 
2.25 

1.50 

•75 

1.20 

$    100.00 

3.00 

2.00 
1. 00 

1.60 

Over 

$   100.00 

3-75 

2.50 
1.25 

Sick  benefits  per  day,  not 
including      first      three 
days,     and    not    longer 
than  52   weeks 

2.00 

Payments  in  the  event  of 

$500.00 

$75o-oo 

$1,000.00 

$1,250.00 

58         RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

Many  necessary  provisions  in  detail  accompany  the 
regulations,  such  as  the  method  of  payment  to  the 
beneficiaries  and  the  necessary  proofs  required  to  es- 
tablish the  claims  of  those  not  specifically  named  in 
the  applications  for  membership,  and  other  details 
which  are  important  in  the  practical  operation  of  the 
general  plan  of  relief,  but  it  is  not  essential  to  enum- 
erate them  here.  The  whole  structure  of  the  "relief 
department  "  is  carefully  designed  to  carry  out  its  ob- 
ject equitably  toward  the  employees  and  the  employ- 
ing company.  Its  main  features  harmonize  admir- 
ably with  the  theory  of  mutual  obligations,  and  the 
successful  operation  of  the  plan  is  one  of  thestrongest 
arguments  which  could  be  advanced  in  favor  of  the 
system  of  co-operation  upon  practicable  lines  for  the 
advantage  of  the  working  classes,  and  the  promotion 
of  the  interests  of  the  agencies  of  employment  in  bet- 
ter and  longer  service. 

In  regard  to  the  success  of  this  relief  plan  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  a  letter,  received  by  the  writer 
from  vice  president  Charles  E.  Pugh  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania railroad  company  are  pertinent: 

"  First,  it  will  be  observed  that  any  employee  upon 
leaving  the  service  for  any  cause  whatever  must  neces- 
sarily sever  his  connection  with  the  relief  department. 
Our  experience  has  demonstrated  that  this  regulation 
has  had  a  wonderful  restraining  influence  upon  our 
men,  as  their  families  become  very  much  interested  in 
this  feature.  The  entire  expense  of  conducting  this 
department  is  borne  by  our  companies,  and  all 
amounts  contributed  by  the  members  are  available 
only  for  benefits  without  any  deductions  whatever  for 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.     59 

other  purposes.  This  department  was  organized  in 
1886  and  at  the  time  was  violently  attacked  by  the 
various  labor  organizations,  but  quite  unsuccessfully, 
and  it  has  since  gradually  grown  in  favor.  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  all  opposition  now  seems  to  have  entirely 
disappeared,  and  we  are  much  gratified  at  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  department  by  our  employees.  The 
membership  at  the  present  time  aggregates  nearly 
32,000,  which  represents  about  80  per  cent  of  those  in 
our  service  who  are  eligible,  men  over  45  years  of  age 
or  such  as  are  unable  to  pass  the  necessary  medical 
examination  not  being  admitted  to  membership.  I  can 
only  say  in  conclusion  that  we  are  abundantly  satis- 
fied with  the  results  obtained  and  the  appreciation 
manifested  by  the  employees  and  especially  by  their 
families. 

We  have  also  in  operation  a  Pennsylvania  railroad 
saving  fund,  which  was  established  in  1887  and  is  de- 
scribed in  the  books  and  plans  forwarded  with  the 
other  papers.  The  whole  story  with  reference  to  this 
department  is  embraced  in  three  or  four  pages  of  the 
deposit  book.  This  saving  fund  is  also  greatly  ap- 
preciated by  our  men,  which  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  there  is  now  on  deposit  about  $1,250,000,  and,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  relief  department,  the  female  mem- 
bers of  their  families  become  a  factor.  The  amount 
deposited  has  varied  only  slightly  since  June  i,  1893, 
the  beginning  of  the  panic,  the  variation  each  month 
during  this  period  not  exceeding  $17,000." 

The  "  savings  fund  "  alluded  to  in  the  last  paragraph 
has  no  connection  with  the  relief  department,  but  is 
given  as  a  very  interesting  and  useful  illustration  of 


6o         RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

what  can  be  accomplished  by  enlisting  the  financial 
skill  of  a  great  corporation  in  aid  of  a  safe  and  pro- 
ductive investment  of  the  savings  of  employees.  It 
may  be  safely  assumed  that  any  railway  company 
which  will  make  proper  use  of  its  means  and  influence 
to  promote  thrift  among  its  employees  and  at  the  same 
time  make  reasonable  provision  in  case  of  death,  ac- 
cident or  sickness,  based  upon  continuous  and  merito- 
rious service  and  contingent  upon  such  service,  will 
soon  attach  its  working  forces  to  the  fortunes  of  the 
enterprise  which  employs  them  by  the  strongest  of 
ties — those  of  self-interest. 

Who  can  doubt  this  who  has  studied  human  nature? 
Exceptions  may  be  cited.  Men  are  sometimes  led 
astray  by  vicious  influences  or  by  some  ignis  fatuus 
which  temporarily  obscures  reason  and  even  leads  to 
suicide,  but  the  predominating  impulse  is  to  follow 
the  paths  which  lead  to  comfort  and  happiness,  and 
men  are  especially  influenced  in  such  directions  when 
others,  whom  they  love,  are  dependent  upon  them. 
The  self-interest  which  governs  in  these  cases  is  not 
only  natural,  but  it  is  one  of  the  noblest  traits  of 
humanity. 

The  Pennsylvania  plan  obviates  one  difficulty  pre- 
viously alluded  to  in  the  present  financial  condition 
of  most  railway  companies,  and  if  the  officers  and 
employees  of  any  company  choose  to  combine  in  suf- 
ficient numbers  to  make  the  execution  of  such  a  plan 
practicable,  there  can  be  no  objection  to  its  immedi- 
ate adoption,  even  if  the  plan  sketched  in  these 
articles  should  be  preferred.  It  has  one  great  merit 
which  is  a  leading  feature  in  the  writer's  plan,  namely 


i 


EXAMPLES  OF   PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.    6i 

that  of  controlling  the  fund  and  holding  the  benefici- 
aries strictly  to  their  obligations  under  the  contract 
voluntarily  entered  into  by  the  employees.  It  would 
be  quite  practicable  and  consistent  with  the  plan  of 
the  writer  to  change  the  system  of  contributive  pay- 
ment at  any  time  when  the  resources  of  a  company 
would  permit  such  a  change. 

This  satisfactory  experiment  on  the  part  of  the 
Pennsylvania  railroad  company  should  induce  every 
railway  company  in  the  country  to  introduce  similar 
methods  of  life  insurance  and  pensions,  as  soon  as  the 
employees  show  a  disposition  to  unite  in  the  voluntary 
contributions  which  are  essential  to  its  establishment. 
It  is  not,  however,  to  be  expected  that  employees  will 
initiate  such  measures.  The  plans  should  be  carefully 
prepared  by  competent  men  and  laid  before  the  oper- 
atives in  all  departments  of  railway  service  by  each 
company;  but  in  order  to  warrant  the  adoption  of  the 
plan  it  would  be  necessary  to  secure  a  fair  number  of 
contributors  at  the  start.  While,  therefore,  express- 
ing a  strong  preference  for  the  plan  which  provides 
the  relief  fund  from  the  treasury  of  the  company,  for 
reasons  given  in  a  previous  chapter,  I  have  seen  no 
plan  based  upon  the  contributions  of  employees  which 
seems  better  adapted  to  accomplish  its  purpose  than 
that  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad  company.  It  is 
possible  that  systems  of  relief  by  means  of  life  insur- 
ance and  pensions  may  be  in  operation  with  other 
railway  companies  in  the  United  States,  but  this  of 
the  Pennsylvania  is  the  only  one  which  has  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  writer.  At  all  events,  it  is  all 
we  require  to  illustrate   the   practical    working   of    a 


62         RAILWAYS    AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

relief  scheme  bearing  strong  resemblance  to  the  plan 
advocated  in  these  papers,  except  in  the  method  of 
raising  and  supi)orting  the  relief  fund.  The  Pennsyl- 
vania railroad  company,  however,  undertakes  to  guar- 
antee the  fund  by  agreeing  to  make  good  any  defi- 
ciency in  the  annual  receipts  and  disbursements  and 
also  pays  the  operating  expenses.  These  are  important 
and  valuable  concessions. 

The  railway  companies  of  England  have  had  a 
system  of  relief  in  operation  for  some  years  and,  I 
understand,  with  satisfactory  results,  but  I  have  not 
yet  been  able  to  obtain  any  trustworthy  information  in 
regard  to  the  method  in  use.  It  is  probable  that  the 
plan  adopted  by  the  Pennsylvania  was  framed  after 
an  examination  of  the  English  method  and  that  the 
salient  features  are  similar. 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  to  be  noted  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  while  in  other  departments  of  labor  in  Eng- 
land there  have  been  serious  strikes  and  disturbances, 
railway  operations  have  been  singularly  exempt. 

The  principle  of  cooperative  relief  finds  an  excel- 
lent practical  illustration  in  the  manufacturing  estab- 
lishment of  Alfred  Dolge,  of  Dolgeville,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Dolge  is  the  largest  felt  and  felt  shoe  manu- 
facturer in  the  United  States  and  employs  about  500 
men.  The  manufacturing  establishment  which  his 
firm  controls  and  manages  has  been  in  operation  at 
Dolgeville  since  1874,  although  the  annual  reports  of 
the  house  up  to  January,  1894,  indicate  a  period  of 
twenty-five  years,  which  doubtless  applies  to  the  date 
when  he  began  the  industry  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

In    1874  the  little  village  of  "  Brackett's  Bridge," 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.    63 

now  Dolgeville,  contained  a  population  of  about  100, 
but  its  superior  water  power  and  excellent  location 
attracted  the  attention  of  Mr.  Dolge,  and  to  this  place 
he  moved  his  machinery  from  Brooklyn  in  the  year 
named.  From  the  little  hamlet  of  1874  Dolgeville, 
under  the  vitalizing  influence  of  Mr.  Dolge's  enter- 
prise, energy  and  skill,  has  grown  up  to  a  population 
of  2,500,  and  up  to  1893  ^^s  one  of  the  most  thriv- 
ing and  successful  of  the  manufacturing  towns  in  New 
York  state.  The  twenty-fifth  annual  reunion  of  the 
employees  of  the  firm  of  Alfred  Dolge,  which  now 
consists  of  the  original  founder  and  his  oldest  son 
Rudolph,  was  held  in  January,  1894,  and  from  this  we 
learn  that  the  business  troubles  of  1893  had  extended 
to  the  industry  of  Dolgeville,  although  we  are  led  to 
believe,  from  a  perusal  of  Mr.  Dolge's  annual  address 
of  that  3^ear,  that  this  compact  and  well  organized  in- 
dustry has  borne  the  trials  of  an  adverse  period  more 
successfully  than  most  of  the  industrial  works  which 
have  been  obliged  to  meet  the  general  storm.  This 
result  is  largely  due  to  the  personal  care  and  direction 
of  Mr.  Alfred  Dolge  in  connection  with  the  system  of 
what  he  calls  "earnings  sharings,"  which  he  has  estab- 
lished and  conducted  with  superior  judgment  and 
skill  for  the  last  twenty  years. 

It  is  to  this  peculiar  feature  of  the  Dolgeville  indus- 
try that  attention  is  called  in  this  paper,  because  it 
illustrates  more  nearly  the  principle  of  mutual  advan- 
tages and  mutual  obligations  than  any  plan  of  co- 
operation which  has  come  under  the  observation  of 
the  writer. 

The  following  paragraph  from  an  article  in  "Cham- 


64         RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

bers'  Journal,"   published  in  1891,  gives  Mr.   Dolge's 
views  as  follows: 

"  Mr.  Alfred  Dolge,  after  a  study  of  all  the  known 
systems  of  profit  sharing,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  one  he  has  adopted  is  the  only  practicable  one  for 
the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  working  people. 
It  is  not  profit  sharing,  but  earnings  sharing  ;  and  he 
says  it  does  not  in  the  least  resemble  communism  or 
socialism  or  the  scheme  of  paternal  government  now 
in  practice  in  Germany.  It  depends  entirely  on  the 
development  of  each  employee's  individuality  and 
places  him  on  the  same  level  with  his  employer.  So- 
called  profit-sharing,  as  generally  practiced,  he  con- 
siders as  simply  the  division  of  a  certain  share  of  the 
earnings,  not  of  the  profits  of  the  business.  He  ob- 
jects to  the  lazy  and  incompetent  workman  receiving 
the  same  percentage  as  the  intelligent  and  industrious 
one,  as  it  appears  to  him  to  destroy  all  individual 
ambition  and  is  a  kind  of  alms-giving.  Besides,  if 
the  profits  of  a  business  are  to  be  shared  by  employees, 
then  it  follows  that  they  also  share  the  losses." 

Nothing  could  be  more  in  harmony  with  the  views 
heretofore  expressed  by  the  writer  in  regard  to  the 
absolute  necessity  of  making  faithful  and  meritorious 
service  the  basis  of  any  advantages  or  benefits  volun- 
tarily conceded  to  workingmen.  The  practical  appli- 
cation of  this  common  sense  idea  at  the  manufactories 
of  Dolgeville  is  therefore  very  interesting  in  a  con- 
sideration of  the  subject. 

The  plan  of  "  earnings  sharings  "  followed  at  the 
Dolgeville  works  is  embraced  in  the  following  pro- 
visions: 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.    65 

In  order  to  enable  the  male  employees  of  the  Alfred 
Dolge  manufactory  to  share  in  the  net  earnings  of  the 
business  over  and  above  their  wages,  the  following 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  distribution  of  such  net 
earnings  have  been  adopted,  after  several  years  of  ex- 
perimental trial,  with  a  pension  and  life  insurance 
plan: 

I.  There  are  three  classes  for  this  distribution,  viz.: 
First,  pension;  second,  insurance;  third,  endowment. 
The  share  of  the  net  earnings,  if  there  are  any,  to  be 
set  aside  each  and  every  year,  is  calculated  upon  the 
actual  results  as  given  by  the  books  of  the  house.  It 
is,  however,  in  the  discretion  of  the  house  to  decide 
how  much  of  the  net  earnings  of  business  shall  be  ap- 
propriated for  distribution. 

Against  this  distribution  account  the  amounts  paid 
for  life  insurance  and  the  amount  necessary  to  main- 
tain the  pension  fund  are  considered  fixed  charges.  If 
in  any  year  the  net  earnings  are  not  sufficient  to  cover 
the  amount  paid  for  life  insurance  and  pensions,  the 
deficiency  becomes  a  charge  against  the  net  earnings 
of  the  year  following.  The  remainder  after  payment 
of  such  fixed  charges  is  available  for  the  endowment 
fund. 

PENSIONS. 

Every  male  employee  over  21  years  and  not  over 
50  years  of  age  at  the  date  of  entering  service  shall  be 
entitled  to  a  pension,  as  follows,  after  ten  years  of 
continuous  service: 

I.  In  case  of  partial  or  total  inability  to  work,  on 
account  of  accident,  sickness  or  old  age,  an  employee 
is  entitled  to  50  per  cent,  of  the  wages  earned  during 

5 


6f^        RAILWAYS    AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

the  last  year  preceding  the  disability  after  ten  years  of 
continuous  service;  60  per  cent,  after  thirteen  years; 
70  per  cent,  after  sixteen  years;  80  per  cent,  after 
nineteen  years;  90  per  cent,  after  twenty-two  years, 
and  100  per  cent,  after  twenty-five  years  of  continu- 
ous service. 

2.  In  case  of  accident  or  sickness  in  the  service  of 
the  house,  previous  to  the  completion  of  ten  years' 
service,  each  employee  is  entitled  to  a  pension  of  50 
per  cent,  of  his  wages  earned  during  the  last  year  next 
preceding  such  accident. 

3.  In  case  of  partial  or  total  inability  to  work  on 
account  of  accident,  sickness  or  old  age,  employees 
who  draw  salary  or  earn  wages  to  the  amount  of 
$1,000  per  year  are  entitled  to  the  following  pensions 
while  such  inability  may  last,  viz.: 

Per  year. 

After  13  to  16  years  of  service $    600 

"     16  to  Tg      "      "      "        700 

"      ig  to  22      "      "      "        800 

"     22  to  25      "      "      "        903 

"     25  years  ot  continuous  service 1,000 

The  rules  include  sundry  minor  provisions,  such  as 
the  nontransferability  of  the  pensions,  the  time  of  be- 
ginning continuous  service  in  case  of  minors,  the  res- 
ervation to  the  house  of  the  right  to  amend  or  repeal 
the  rules,  and  of  final  decision  in  doubtful  cases,  and 
it  is  stipulated  that  all  of  the  provisions  of  the  "  law," 
as  it  is  called,  are  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  house 
and  involve  no  legal  liability  to  the  employee.  Pro- 
vision is  also  made  for  the  distribution  of  any  balance 
remaining  in  the  fund  in  case  of  change  of  proprie- 
torship. These  minor  provisions  are  not  given  at 
length,  as  they  are  not  essential  to  an  understanding 
of  the  body  of  the  pension  plan. 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.    67 

LIFE  INSURANCE. 

All  male  employees  of  26  years  of  age  and  upward, 
after  five  years  of  continuous  service,  are  provided 
with  life  insurance,  as  follows: 

Every  employee  after  five  full  years  of  continuous 
service,  dating  from  the  age  of  21,  is  entitled  to  a  life 
insurance  policy  in  some  life  insurance  company  of 
$1,000,  payable  to  his  heirs  or  assigns,  and  for  every 
five  years  of  continuous  service  thereafter,  up  to  fifteen 
years,  $1,000  additional,  making  for  this  class  of  em- 
ployees a  maximum  life  insurance  of  $3,000  after  fifteen 
years  of  continuous  service. 

Employees  entering  the  service  at  22  years  of  age 
are  entitled  to  $1,000  life  insurance  for  every  five 
years  of  continuous  service  up  to  ten  years,  making  for 
this  class  a  maximum  of  $2,000  life  insurance,  and 
employees  entering  service  after  27  years  of  age  up  to 
40  years  are  entitled  to  policies  of  $1,000  after  five 
years  of  continuous  service,  and  this  is  the  maximum 
for  that  class. 

The  annual  premiums  on  these  life  insurance  poli- 
cies are  to  be  paid  by  the  house,  except  in  cases  of  dis- 
charge of  the  employee  insured,  in  which  event  the 
payment  of  premiums  must  be  assumed  by  the 
employee. 

Provision  is  made  for  employees  entering  service  at 
the  age  of  41  years  and  after,  under  which  an  annual 
premmm  of  $35  is  set  aside  by  the  house  after  five 
years  of  continuous  service,  for  not  exceeding  twentv 
consecutive  years  of  additional  service,  and  with  its 
accretion  of  interest  paid  to  the  heirs  of  said  emplovees 


68         RAILWAYS  AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

at  death,  but  in  no  case  to  exceed  the  sum  of  Si,ooo. 
The  same  provision  is  made  for  employees  when  ap- 
plication for  life  insurance  may  be  rejected,  the 
amount  for  these  last  not  in  any  case  to  exceed  the 
sum  of  the  policies  they  would  have  been  entitled  to 
in  case  of  insurance  under  the  rules  applying  to  the 
age  of  the  employee. 

In  case  of  any  employee  refusing  or  neglecting  to 
make  application  for  life  insurance  he  will  not  be 
entitled  to  any  benefit  from  the  fund. 

The  minor  provisions  of  the  life  insurance  plan  are 
similar  to  those  adopted  for  the  government  of  pen- 
sions, the  house  reserving  its  full  right  to  discharge, 
etc.,  and  not  conferring  any  legal  right  in  favor  of 
employees,  or  establishing  any  legal  liability  on  the 
part  of  the  house.  The  same  provisions  are  made 
also  in  case  of  change  in  proprietorship. 

ENDOWMENT. 

Every  male  employee  over  21  years  of  age,  after 
five  consecutive  years  of  service,  is  entitled  to  an  en- 
dowment account: 

At  the  end  of  each  year  so  much  will  be  credited 
to  this  account  as  according  to  the  record  kept  by  the 
house,  and  known  as  the  manufacturing  record,  used 
as  a  basis  demonstrating  that  he  has  produced  more 
for  the  house  than  has  been  paid  to  him  in  the  form 
of  wages. 

If  by  neglect  or  carelessness  an  employee  has  caused 
a  loss  to  the  house,  as  appears  from  such  manufactur- 
ing record,  the  same  shall  be  charged  against  such 
employee  on  the  same  account. 


EXAMPLES  OF  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION.    69 

Upon  any  balance  in  his  favor  at  the  end  of  every 
such  year  of  service,  such  employee  shall  be  entitled  to 
interest  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent  per  annum,  to  be 
credited  at  the  end  of  each  year. 

The  endowment  money  is  payable  upon  reaching 
the  age  of  60  years,  or  upon  death  to  the  legal  heirs. 
In  case  of  leaving  the  employment  of  the  company  or 
discharge  therefrom,  the  amount  due  at  the  time  he 
leaves  will  not  be  paid  until  he  reaches  60  years  of 
age,  except  in  case  of  death,  and  interest  on  the  sum 
due  will  cease  from  the  date  of  leaving  the  employ- 
ment of  the  house. 

The  endowment  fund  cannot  be  assigned,  but  may 
be  left  by  last  will  and  testament.  Loans,  however, 
may  be  obtained,  at  the  discretion  of  the  house  from 
the  fund  set  aside,  not  exceeding  the  amount  credited, 
by  giving  satisfactory  collateral  security  and  by  paying 
interest  thereon  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent  per  annum. 

The  same  provisions  as  to  the  right  of  discharge, 
and  as  to  the  legal  rights  of  the  employees  and  the 
legal  responsibilities  of  the  house,  etc.,  given  as  to  the 
pension  and  life  insurance  plans  are  also  attached  to 
the  endowment  department. 

The  disbursements  during  the  year  1893  were  as 
follows : 

For  pensions $3>773.3i 

For  insurance 4,100.22 

For  endowment 

For  deposits  528.30 

For  school  purposes  outside  of  taxes 4,882.99 

For  parks 560.40 

$13,845.22 
Previously  paid 197,790.09 

Grand  total $2011,635.31 


70         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

Endowment  account  representing  the  amount  an- 
nually earned  by  the  workmen  over  their  wages, 
received  no  credit  during  the  year  1893,  on  account 
of  the  business  depression,  which  Mr.  Dolge  in  his 
annual  address  attributes  entirely  to  the  threatened 
changes  in  the  tariff,  as  then  proposed  under  the  Wil- 
son bill.  The  amount  credited  to  this  fund  in  1891 
was  $3,064,  and  in  1892,  $4,256.15. 

Under  Mr.  Dolge's  excellent  management  the  town 
of  Dolgeville  has  become  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
and  thrifty  of  the  manufacturing  towns  in  the  state. 
It  is  well  provided  with  schools  and  has  an  excellent 
public  library,  parks,  electric  light  and  other  modern 
conveniences,  and  seems  to  be  a  model  home  for 
workmen. 

This  result  is  largely  due  to  the  judicious  intelli- 
gence of  Mr.  Dolge  in  carrying  out  his  plan  of  "earn- 
ings sharings"  and  in  diversifying  the  industries  of  the 
town. 

Notwithstanding  the  gloomy  views  of  Mr.  Dolge 
as  to  the  effect  of  the  Wilson  tariff,  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  expect  from  a  man  of  such  remarkable  genius 
and  fertility  of  mind,  that  adaptability  to  changes  in 
industrial  conditions,  so  that 

"Out  of  this  nettle,  danger, 
We  pluck  the  flower,  safety." 


CHAPTER  V. 
PROFIT  SHARING. 

Profit  sharing  as  a  practicable  method  of  solving 
the  problem  presented  in  the  antagonism  of  capital 
and  labor  has  been  in  operation  in  Great  Britain, 
France  and  the  United  States  for  many  years,  and  in 
some  cases  it  has  been  quite  successful,  but  the  scheme 
worked  out  by  Mr.  Alfred  Dolge — a  sketch  of  which 
was  given  in  my  last  chapter  and  which  that  gentle- 
man calls  "earnings  sharings" — obviates  some  of  the 
objections  to  profit  sharing  and  is,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  writer,  far  superior  to  methods  which  simply  pro- 
vide for  a  distribution  of  a  share  of  profits,  if  any  are 
made,  but  which  neither  coyer  the  contingency  of 
adverse  business  years  nor  discriminate  between  meri- 
torious and  faithful  service  and  that  of  an  inferior 
character.  In  1891  "Chambers'  Journal"  published 
an  interesting  article  on  this  subject,  introducing  at 
the  same  time  Mr.  Dolge's  improved  plan  of  enlisting 
the  interests  of  his  employees  in  the  success  of  his  busi- 
ness by  a  system  of  compensation  dependent  upon  it 
and  consisting  of  life  insurance,  pensions  and  endow- 
ment, which  "Chambers'  Journal "  calls  "a  new  de- 
parture." From  this  article  I  condense  the  following 
information,  which  should  interest  all  who  have  given 
this  subject  any  attention: 

In  1843  Edme-Jean  Leclaire,  the  Parisian  painter 

71 


72         RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

and  decorator,  who  is  called  by  the  "Journal"  "the 
father  of  modern  profit  sharing,"  adopted  a  plan  of 
that  character  and  astonished  his  skeptical  workmen 
as  to  his  intentions  by  throwing  a  bag  containing  490 
pounds  in  coin  ujion  the  table  for  distribution  among 
them.  Leclaire  found  that  a  mutual  aid  society, 
which  he  had  established  in  1838,  became  "a  powerful 
means  of  moralization  and  a  living  course  in  public 
law."  M.  Fregier  in  1835  had  dropped  a  hint  to  him 
that  the  best  expedient  for  removing  the  antago- 
nism between  capital  and  labor  was  to  allow  the  work- 
men some  participation  in  profits.  Neither  Leclaire 
nor  the  author  of  this  suggestion  took  the  mat- 
ter seriously  at  first,  but  in  1842  the  house  painter 
after  much  thought  concluded  to  try  the  experiment. 
As  now  constituted,  the  net  profits  of  the  firm  are  di- 
vided in  certain  proportions  between  the  managing 
partners,  mutual  aid  society  and  the  regular  workmen. 
Five  per  cent  of  the  capital  of  400,000  francs  is  de- 
ducted like  wages  from  the  gross  profits  in  order  to 
establish  the  net  profits;  50  per  cent  of  the  remaining 
profits  go  to  labor  in  cash;  25  per  cent  to  the  great 
provident  society,  which  is  now  half  owner  of  the 
capital  of  the  firm.  Between  1842  and  1872,  the  year 
of  Leclaire's  death,  the  mutual  aid  society  and  his 
workmen  had  received  34,000  pounds.  In  1883  the 
sum  had  reached  133,000  pounds.  In  1882  and  1889 
the  dividend  that  was  paid  to  wages  was  over  9,000 
pounds  ($45,000)  in  each  case.  The  effect  on  the 
workmen  has  been  to  make  them  sober,  thrifty  and 
industrious. 

Other  notable  profit  sharing  works  are  the  Coop- 


PROFIT   SHARING.  73 

erative  Paper  Works,  Angouleme,  founded  by  M.  E. 
Laroche-Joubert,  where  the  dividend  is  paid  in  cash. 
At  these  works  between  1879  ^^^^  1888  more  than 
44,000  pounds  ($220,000)  was  so  distributed  over  and 
above  wages.  At  Godin's  iron  foundry,  Guise,  employ- 
ing 1,600  hands,  the  workmen's  share  of  profits  accu- 
mulates toward  the  purchase  of  shares  in  the  firm. 
Profit  sharing  in  some  form  has  been  in  force  there 
since  1877  and  began  with  a  bonus.  Nearly  1,000 
workmen  received  additional  wages  in  1889.  "The  re- 
sult is  that  out  of  a  squalid,  ignorant  peasantry  he 
(Godin)  has  produced  an  industrious  community,  with 
the  discipline  of  a  regiment  and  the  commercial  alert- 
ness of  a  market  place." 

"The  celebrated  scheme  of  Messrs.  Briggs,  Whit- 
worth  Colliery,  Yorkshire  (England),  lasted  from 
1864  to  1875,  until  the  participation  of  the  workmen 
in  a  strike  caused  its  collapse.  When  the  net  profits 
exceeded  ten  per  cent  on  the  capital  embarked,  all 
those  employed  by  the  company,  managers,  agents, 
or  work  people,  receiving  one-half  of  this  excess  pro- 
fit in  proportion  to  their  respective  earnings.  About 
34,000  pounds  were  so  distributed  in  nine  years."  In 
1 89 1  about  fifty  British  firms,  eighty-one  in  France, 
Alsace  and  Switzerland,  and  twenty-nine  in  the  United 
States,  practiced  some  system  of  profit  sharing.  The 
usual  agreement  in  the  case  of  British  firms  provides 
that  the  surplus  profits  of  the  business  (if  any)  beyond 
such  definite  sum  as  may  be  reserved  to  the  firm  for 
their  own  benefit  shall  be  divided  into  two  equal  parts; 
one  part  is  distributed  (not  of  legal  right,  but  gratuit- 
ously) as  a  bonus  to  the  employees,  according   to  the 


74         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

rules  adopted  by  the  firm;  and  the  other  part  is  re- 
tained by  the  firm.  This  carries  no  voice  in  the  man- 
agement, "  and  the  weak  point  is,  that  drones  and 
working  bees  have  share  and  share  alike." 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  any  of  these  individ- 
uals, or  members  of  profit  sharing  firms,  pose  as  phil- 
anthropists. They  have  simply  adopted  this  method 
upon  business  principles,  with  the  expectation  of 
promoting  greater  care  of  implements  and  economy 
of  material,  and  of  uniting  employers  and  workmen 
in  closer  relationship.  Leclaire  expressly  disclaimed 
philanthropic  motives.  He  simply  adopted  the 
scheme  of  profit  sharing  for  its  advantages  in  a  busi- 
ness point  of  view.  "  I  would  rather  gain,"  he  said, 
"  one  hundred  thousand  francs  and  give  away  fifty 
thousand,  than  gain  twenty-five  thousand  and  keep 
the  whole  for  myself."  The  mathematical  logic  of 
this  proposition  will  not  be  disputed. 

Mr.  Dolge's  method  is  commended  by  Chambers' 
Journal  as  much  the  best  of  any  of  those  which  have 
been  tested  by  practical  experience.  It  grasps  one 
feature  of  co-operative  industry,  which,  to  the  writer 
seems  to  be  vital  to  its  permanent  success,  that  is,  in 
the  principle  of  mutuality  which  governs  its  opera- 
tion. Employers  undertake  no  work  of  philanthropy, 
but  adopt  a  simple  business  proposition  which  is 
strengthened  and  sustained  by  reciprocal  advantages, 
and  workmen  receive  no  charitable  aid  in  a  scheme 
which  calls  upon  them  for  their  best  and  most  intelli- 
gent exertions,  that  they  may  reap  the  fruits  of  such 
superiority.  In  other  words,  there  is  no  sacrifice  of 
independence  or  self-respect  on  either  side.     The  em- 


PROFIT  SHARING.  75 

ployer  thinks  his  industry  will  be  more  prosperous,  if 
he  can  enlist  the  energies  and  intelligence  of  his  work- 
men in  the  success  of  its  prosecution,  and  the  work- 
men avail  of  a  fair  chance  of  improving  their  worldly 
conditions  by  aiding  in  the  development  of  an  enter- 
prise in  the  success  of  which  they  are  pecuniarily  in- 
terested. On  the  one  hand,  the  employer  is  governed 
by  no  alleged  claims  of  the  working  classes,  as  urged 
by  extreme  socialism,  nor  is  he  driven  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  plan  bv  intimidation.  He  consults  what 
he  believes  to  be  his  true  interest,  in  all  points  of 
view,  and  sees,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  working  of 
the  scheme,  one  of  the  fairest  and  best  of  methods  for 
bringing  skilled  labor  more  closely  in  touch  with 
those  who  direct  it,  and  more  directly  connected  with 
the  results  of  its  application.  The  difference  which 
such  a  change  in  relations  must  ultimately  produce  in 
the  respective  attitude  of  employers  and  employed, 
admitting  reasonable  success  in  its  practical  opera- 
tion, can  be  easily  conceived.  A  forcible  illustration 
may  be  found  in  machinery,  in  which  each  part 
strengthens  a  part,  and  which  works  with  infinite 
power  and  ease  when  the  component  pieces  are  har- 
moniously adjusted.  No  power  is  lost,  no  material 
wasted,  and  the  product  is  likely  to  be  as  perfect  and 
as  economical  as  human  intelligence  can  make  it. 

Above  all  things  which  have  impressed  the  writer 
in  considering  this  subject,  is  the  importance  of  the 
mutual  principle,  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  the  sys- 
tem followed  by  Mr.  Alfred  Dolge,  and  which  that 
gentlemen  takes  frequent  occasion  to  emphasize.  It 
is,  in  fact,  the  key   to   success  in   that   system  of  so- 


7<^         RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

called  cooperation,  as  it  is  the  only  conunonsense 
way  of  cooijerating.  To  distribute  any  part  of 
the  profits  wliich  accrue  from  tlie  more  intelligent 
and  more  faithful,  or  the  more  skillful,  to  the  lazy 
and  incompetent,  would  be  discouraging  to  those 
who  are  stimulated  to  a  larger  development  of  their 
talents,  or  who  are  induced  to  work,  not  harder  but 
with  ^'■n  intelligence  directed  to  the  end  in  view,  and 
with  minds  interested  in  the  success  of  their  work. 
The  Avriter  lays  great  stress  upon  this  condition  as  a 
ruling  feature  in  any  cooperative  scheme  and  has  no 
faith  in  the  permanent  success  of  any  which  ignore 
this  principle.  The  arguments  in  favor  of  this  dis- 
crimination are  forcible  and  conclusive,  and,  further- 
more, it  is  vitally  essential  in  schemes  of  this  charac- 
ter, to  conform  to  the  existing  conditigns  of  human 
life  and  development,  if  we  expect  to  enlist  the  sup- 
port of  intelligent  working  men. 

Seeking  to  apply  the  cooperative  idea  to  railway 
companies,  the  method  followed  by  the  Pennsylvania 
railroad  company  as  detailed  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter not  only  appears  to  be  carefully  prepared  upon 
principles  of  reciprocity,  but  it  has  the  great  advan- 
tage of  successful  operation.  It  is  no  longer  an  ex- 
periment, and  the  example  may  be  followed  with  the 
assurance  of  success  which  eight  years  of  practical 
work  enables  us  to  claim  for  it.  The  importance  of 
introducing'  systems  of  relief  for  the  benefit  of  em- 
ployees is  so  obvious,  that  in  view  of  its  immediate 
practicability  the  writer  ventures  to  urge  upon  railway 
managers  an  early  consideration  of  the  subject,  and  to 
suggest,  also,  to  emplovees  prompt  action  on  their  part 


ff 

# 

PROFIT   SHARING.  77 

to  secure  the  necessary  number  of  applicants  to  war- 
rant the  adoption  of  the  system,  whenever  railway 
companies  through  their  officers  indicate  a  disposition 
to  aid  :*i  its  development. 

In  the  consideration  of  such  schemes,  the  tendency 
of  human  nature  is  to  assent  to  its  propositions  in  a 
general  way,  and  then  to  dismiss  or  postpone  further 
reflection,  even  when  taking  a  real  interest  in  th  .  sub- 
ject. Railway  managers  are  profoundly  occupied  in 
the  complicated  problems  of  transportation  and  of 
late  years  in  the  consideration  of  measures  for  the 
restoration  of  health  and  prosperity  to  these  great 
agencies  of  industrial  distribution.  Under  such  con- 
ditions, projects  however  well  founded  and  even  of 
great  importance  in  their  bearing  upon  the  future  of 
railway  operations,  are  laid  aside  and  forgotten,  unless 
they  are  kept  alive  by  some  who  will  devote  especial 
attention  to  the  matter.  It  would  seem  superfluous, 
and  might  even  appear  presumptuous  on  the  part  of 
the  writer  to  suggest  the  easy  remedy  available  in 
such  cases.  If  the  relief  system  of  the  Pennsylvania 
company  commends  itself  to  the  ofificers  and  employes 
of  any  railway  company,  it  will  only  be  necessary  to 
take  an  active  interest  in  it  to  secure  its  adoption  and 
success. 

In  a  supplemental  chapter  I  may  be  able  to  give 
some  of  the  details  of  cooperative  relief  in  operation 
on  the  railway  lines  of  England  and  Franbe,  and,  per- 
haps, information  as  to  other  industrial  works  in  the 
United  States  ;  but  in  the  examples  already  given, 
demonstrating  as  they  do  the  practical  success  of 
cooperative  industry  and   cooperative  relief,  we  have 


7^        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

the  strongest  arguments  which  can  be  urged  in  favor 
of  an  extension  of  the  system.  It  is  no  longer  a 
theory  ;   it  is  practice  and  fruition. 

Considered  in  its  ethical  bearing,  the  subject 
should  command  the  attention  of  all  thoughtful  men. 
The  industrial  world  is  vitally  interested  in  the  ques- 
tion, and  in  that  category  should  be  included  all  who 
toil  idt  a  living,  whether  in  manual  labor  or  m  brain- 
work,  without  which  physical  power  lacks  direction 
and  successful  application.  Social  questions  which 
bring  into  consideration  the  relations  between  em- 
ployers and  employed  are  not  introduced  for  the  pur- 
pose of  aiding  any  particular  interest,  nor  to  invite 
theoretical  discussion,  but  simply  to  suggest  practical 
remedies  for  a  growing  evil  which  has  already  caused 
widespread  disturbance  and  is  a  threatening  factor  of 
trouble  in  the  future.  The  writer  is  strongly  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  cooperation  between  cap- 
ital and  labor,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate 
to  say,  between  employers  and  employed,  is  the  key 
to  a  satisfactory  solution  of  this  much  vexed  question. 
The  successful  experiments  which  have  been  detailed 
in  a  previous  chapter,  together  with  the  knowledge  of 
many  other  industrial  works  in  successful  operation  in 
different  parts  of  the  world  give  strong  assurance  of 
the  practicability  of  harmonizing  the  interests  of  the 
two  agencies  of  capital  and  labor.  If  any  imperfec- 
tions appear  as  the  system  is  developed  upon  a  large 
scale,  there  will  be  little  or  no  difficulty  in  readjusting 
the  machinery.  The  main  point  is  to  feel  satisfied 
that  our  efforts  are  to  be  exerted  in  the  right  direc- 


PROFIT   SHARING.  79 

tion,  and  that  the  principle  which  governs  them  is 
fundamentally  sound. 

In  cooperative  schemes  of  the  character  advocated 
in  this  series  of  papers,  and  practically  illustrated  in 
some  of  the  industrial  works  now  in  operation  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe,  the  writer  finds  a  remedy  for 
the  evils  of  which  reasonable  socialists  complain. 
These  schemes  do  not  contemplate  the  impossible 
task  of  correcting  the  natural  inequality  of  man  in 
physical  and  mental  conditions,  but  embrace  the  idea 
of  so  adjusting  the  machinery  of  production  and  dis- 
tribution as  to  give  men  fair  opportunities  to  improve 
their  situations  in  life  according  to  their  own  exer- 
tions and  their  own  merits. 

Any  and  all  plans  which  involve  the  sacrifice  of 
man's  independence  or  the  destruction  of  his  indi- 
vidual responsibility  and  personal  ambition,  will,  in 
the  writer's  judgment,  be  found  utterly  impracticable. 
A  sentimental  halo  radiates  from  the  Utopian  schemes 
which  propose  to  transform  human  nature  and  to  set- 
tle the  problems  of  natural  inequality  by  patent  pro- 
cesses and  automatic  movements,  but  sentiment  alone 
will  not  change  human  nature,  and  it  Is  but  a  waste  of 
time  to  consider  propositions  which  are  permeated 
with  injustice  and  which,  if  carried  into  effect,  will 
array  class  against  class  to  their  mutual  injury. 

With  another  chapter,  in  which  I  propose  to  apply 
the  cooperative  features  of  industry  to  socialism,  as 
the  only  feasible  improvement  of  existing  social  con- 
ditions, I  shall  try  to  conclude  this  series  of  articles 
which,  perhaps,  have  been  more  interesting  to  the 
writer  than  to  your  readers. 


CHAPTER   VI. 
EXAMPLES   OF   COOPERATIVE    METHODS. 

The  London  &  North-Western  railway  company 
has  two  departments  of  relief  for  the  benefit  of  em- 
ployees which  have  been  in  operation  for  some  years. 
One  of  these,  called  the  "Insurance  Society,"  was 
established  in  1877,  and  the  other,  called  the  "Provi- 
dent and  Pension  Society,"  established  January  i, 
1889. 

The  object  of  the  Insurance  Society  is  to  provide 
pecuniary  relief  in  cases  of  temporary  or  permanent 
disablement,  arising  from  accident  while  in  the  dis- 
charge of  duty,  and  in  all  cases  of  death.  The  affairs 
of  the  society  are  under  the  management  of  a  com- 
mittee composed  of  twelve  members  of  the  society, 
and  three  in  addition,  these  last  to  be  nominated  by 
the  London  &  North-VVestern  board. 

The  chairman,  deputy  chairman  and  secretary  of 
the  railway  company  are  constituted  trustees,  in  whom 
all  property  of  the  society  is  vested,  for  the  time  being, 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  society  and  its  members. 
Annual  meetings  of  the  society  are  provided  for,  and 
proper  rules  govern  the  system  of  accounts  and  the 
auditing  thereof. 

"  For  members  who,  before  sustaining  the  personal 
injury  in  question,  agree  to  accept  the  contribution  to 
the   funds  of    the  society  by  the   London  &  North- 

80 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.       Si 

Western  railway  company  "  in  place  of  claims  which, 
otherwise,  they  might  have  against  that  company,  the 
scale  of  payments  and  allowances  is  as  follows  : 

Passenger  guards  and  brakemen  pay  three  pence 
per  week  and  receive  : 

I.    In  case  of  death  by  accident  while  in  service, 

;^IOO. 

2.  In  case  of  permanent  disability,  ;^ioo. 

3.  In  case  of  temporary  disability  by  accident,  per 
week,  2 IS. 

4.  In  case  of  death  from  any  cause  not  provided 
for  in  the  rules,  ;^io. 

Porters  and  others  pay  two  pence  per  week  and  re- 
ceive ;^8o  incases  Nos.  i  and  2  ;  14s.  per  week  in  No. 
3;  and  ;^io  in  No.  4. 

Boys  and  others  with  wages  under  12s.  per  week, 
pay  one  penny  per  week  and  receive  in  cases  Nos.  i 
and  2,  ;^40  ;  in  No.  3,  7s.  per  week;  and  in  No.  4,  ;^5. 

For  members  who  do  not  so  agree,  the  scale  of  pay- 
ments is  the  same  for  each  class  of  employee,  but  the 
receipts  are  diminished  as  follows : 

Guards  and  brakemen  receive  in  case  No.  i,  ;^4o; 
in  case  No.  2,  ;^35  ;  and  in  case  No.  3,  i8s.  for  the 
first  26  weeks  and  9s.  per  week  for  the  second  26 
weeks;  while  in  case  No.  4  they  receive  ;^io. 

Porters,  etc.,  receive  _;^35  in  case  No.  i;  jQ2^  in 
No.  2;  and  in  No.  3,  12s.  per  week  for  first  26  weeks 
and  6s.  per  week  for  second  26  weeks. 

Boys,  etc.,  receive  ;^i2  los.  in  case  No.  i  ;  ;!^i8  15s, 
in  No.  2  ;  and  six  pence  and  three  pence  per  week  in 
case  No.  3  ;  while  in  case  No.  4  the  allowance  is  ;^5, 

For  any  member  leaving  the  employment  of  the 
6 


82  RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

company,  or  who  becomes  ineligible  as  a  member  of 
the  society  by  promotion,  the  insurance  effected  in  his 
behalf  is  immediately  determined  and  he  then  ceases 
to  be  a  member. 

In  case  the  funds  of  the  society  become  insufificient 
to  provide  for  its  liabilities,  the  committee  of  manage- 
ment have  power  to  levy,  not  exceeding  two  addi- 
tional weekly  contributions,  according  to  the  scale, 
during  a  period  of  three  months. 

Forms  of  application  for  membership  and  of  agree- 
ment to  be  signed  are  given  in  the  copy  of  rules,  and 
these  rules  provide  for  the  safe  investment  and  care  of 
the  society's  funds,  and  for  arbitration  in  case  of  dis- 
pute, and  there  are  minor  provisions  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  society,  which  are  not  essential  in  this 
condensed  statement. 

The  object  of  the  "Provident  and  Pension  Society" 
is  to  provide  weekly  allowance  in  case  of  temporary 
disablement  for  work,  retiring  gratuities  for  old  or 
disabled  members  in  certain  cases,  death  allowance  to 
the  representatives  of  deceased  members;  allowance 
toward  the  funeral  expenses  on  the  death  of  a  mem- 
ber's wife,  and  pensions  to  old  or  disabled   members. 

The  members  of  the  society  are,  of  course,  to  be 
employees  of  the  railway  company.  By  the  company's 
rules,  all  persons  regularly  employed  at  weekly  wages 
(except  certain  men  in  the  locomotive  department), 
who  are  not  under  i8  or  over  45  years  of  age,  or  in 
the  receipt  of  less  than  12s.  a  week,  are  required  on 
their  appointment  or  promotion  to  join  the  society  as 
first  or  second  class  members,  as  they  may  elect. 
Those  who  are  under  18  years  of  age  or  receiving  less 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      83 

than  I2S.  a  week,  will  join  the  society  as  third  class 
members,  but  they  will  be  required  upon  attaining 
that  age  and  rate  to  become  either  first  or  second  class 
members. 

The  London  &  North- Western  railway  company 
contributes  on  account  of  pension  benefits  ^3,600  a 
year  until  the  payments  of  first  and  second  class 
pension  members  at  one  penny  each  per  week  amount 
to  that  sum,  and  then  in  lieu  of  such  contribution,  the 
company  pays  a  sum  equal  to  one  penny  per  week  per 
each  first  and  second  class  member ;  but  in  no  case  is 
the  contribution  of  the  company  to  exceed  ;^6,ooo  per 
annum,  unless  a  further  sum  should  thereafter  be 
voted  by  the  proprietors.  The  company  also  con- 
tributes in  like  manner  on  account  of  Provident  bene- 
fits the  sum  of  ;^8oo  per  annum  in  addition  to  the 
fines  inflicted  upon  the  staff  in  other  departments  than 
the  locomotive. 

The  management  is  by  the  same  committee  in 
charge  of  the  "Insurance  Society,"  the  company's 
nominees  having  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  "Provi- 
dent and  Pension  Society  "  as  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, by  virtue  of  the  company's  contributions  to 
the  society. 

The  trustees  are  the  same  as  in  the  Insurance  So- 
ciety and  the  provisions  in  regard  to  the  investment 
and  care  of  the  funds  of  the  company  are  the  same 
and  the  provisions  in  regard  to  meetings,  the  render- 
ing and  auditing  of  accounts  are  similar  to  those  of 
the  Insurance  Society.  Medical  certificates  as  to  the 
state  of  health  of  applicants  for  membership  are 
required  in  both  of  these  relief  departments  ;  but  the 


84        RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

certificates  furnished  to  one  will  answer  for  both.  If 
any  member  is  disabled  in  consequence  of  immoral 
conduct,  intemperance,  or  by  accident  as  the  result  of 
bad  habits,  he  forfeits  any  claim  upon  the  funds  of  the 
society,  except  as  to  any  pension  to  which  he  will  be 
entitled,  if  he  has  at  that  time  attained  the  age  of  65. 

Upon  attaining  the  age  of  65,  a  member  who  has 
contributed  to  the  fund  for  a  period  of  not  less  than 
20  years,  is  entitled  upon  leaving  the  company's  ser- 
vice to  the  following  pensions: 

Persons  who,  since  July  i,  1889,  have  contributed 
according  to  appendix  i,  scale  A,  will  receive,  class 
one,  a  weekly  pension  of  12s.;  class  two,  a  weekly 
pension  of  9s. 

Many  minor  provisions,  which  it  is  not  necessary 
to  mention  here,  are  embraced  in  the  rules  which 
govern  the  society.  They  are  much  the  same  as  those 
of  the  Insurance  Society. 

Carefully  prepared  tables  accompany  the  printed 
copies  of  the  rules,  but  they  are  too  elaborate  to  be 
given  here  in  detail.  The  payments  or  contributions 
range  from  six  pence  to  two  pence  per  week,  according 
to  classification,  and  the  members  are  entitled  to  receive 
in  cases  of  disability  from  12s.  to  6s.  per  week.  In 
case  of  death  from  causes  not  included  in  the  Insur- 
ance Society's  guarantee,  £jo  for  first  and  second,  and 
-£s,  for  third  class.  Upon  death  of  wife,  toward 
funeral  expenses,  ^5  for  each  class  of  members.  The 
retiring  gratuities  range  from  ^12  los.  to  ;^5o  for  the 
first  and  second  classes,  and  from  ;£6  5s.  to  ;{^2S,  for 
the  third  class.  In  cases  of  disqualification  for  work 
after  65   years   oi  age,  a   weekly  pension  of  from  12s. 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      85 

to  9s.  is  allowed,  and  in  cases  of  disqualification  for 
other  causes,  after  20  years  of  service,  5s.  to  3s.  6d.  per 
week,  under  the  rules  prescribed  for  such  cases. 

This  is  but  an  imperfect  statement  of  the  arrange- 
ment for  distributing  the  pension  fund,  but  it  will 
serve  to  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  benefits  to 
be  derived  under  its  practical  operation. 

Applications  for  admission  to  membership  are  nec- 
essary as  in  the  case  of  the  Insurance  Society. 

From  the  annual  report  of  the  Insurance  Society 
for  the  year  ending  Dec.  31,  1893,  ^^  glean  the  fol- 
lowing statistics: 

The  number  of  members  of  the  society  at  that  date 
was  44,439.  The  working  of  the  fund  for  four  years 
has  been  as  follows: 

Deaths  from  accident  on  duty.  Payments  by  the  society. 

I  s.         d. 

1890 79  6t345         12        o 

1891 72  5,863  o        9 

1892 87  7,194         12         5 

1893 70  5,029  o         5 

Deaths  from  other  causes.  Payments  by  the  society. 

I  s.         d. 

1890 327  3,2oi    16    7 

1891 400  3,937    18    I 

1892 281  3,813    13   II 

1893 431  4.24s    13   II 

PERMANENT  DISABLEMENT  ARISING  FROM 
ACCIDENT  ON  DUTY. 

The  society  has  since  its  formation  paid  a  total  sum 
of  ;j£^67,io2  5s.  iid.  in  cases  of  permanent  disable- 
ment, in  addition  to  weekly  allowances  granted  in  ex- 
cess of  the  usual  period  to  members  permanently  dis- 
abled amounting  to  ;^4i2  IS.  4d.  The  number  of 
cases  ranges  from  75  in  1890  to  86  in  1893. 

The  weekly  allowances  to  members  temporarily  dis- 


^^         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

abled  by  accident  incurred  while  in  the  discharge  of 
duty  since  the  commencement  of  the  society  amount 
to  ;^24i,5i5  9s.  6d.  The  number  of  cases  range  from 
6,159  in  1890  to  6,394  in  1893. 

The  total  receipts  of  the  society  since  187 1  have 
been  ;^535,368  19s.  3d.,  of  which  the  London  &  North- 
western railway  company  paid  ;a{^200,396  9s.  3d.,  and 
members  bv  contribution  ^322,964  os.  2d.  During 
the  year  1893  the  payments  to  members  were  as  fol- 
lows: 

i.  s.  d. 

Accidental  death  allowance 5>929  o  5 

Natural  death  allowance 4)245  13  11 

Permanent  disablement 6,984  16  4 

Temporary  disablement 20,328  4  10 

The  total  amount  paid  by  the  society  in  these  al- 
lowances since  1871  reaches  the  sum  of  ;^479,709  3s. 
5d.,  or  in  round  numbers  reduced  to  United  States 
currency  $2,326,183.  The  society  reports  a  balance 
of  ;^23,20i  in  its  treasury. 

The  Provident  and  Pension  Society's  report  for  the 
same  year  states  the  number  of  members  at  34,280. 

I  s.      d. 

The  amount  of  receipts  for  the  year  was 46,962         13       4 

And  expenditures 37,686  6      9 

Leaving  a  balance  for  the  year  of -. ^19.276  6s.  7d. 

Of  these  receipts  the  London  &  North- Western  rail- 
way company  contributed  ;^6,683  6s.  6d.  The  total 
receipts  of  the  society  for  the  four  years,  1891  to  1893, 
were  ;^483,o34  15s.  5d.  Of  this  the  railway  company 
contributed  ;^7i,588  14s.  id.,  and  the  members 
;^359.o62  19s.  4d. 

The  total  payments  to  members  in  allowances  for 
the  four  years  were  as  follows: 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.  87 

L  s.  d. 

Death  allowances 26.049  14  6 

Death  allowances,  members' wives 7.555  o  o 

Weekly  allowances 247,561  10  ti 

Special  grants 782  7  2 

Retiring  gratuities 21,198  12  3 

Pensions 5,892  19  11 


THE  LONDON,  BRIGHTON  &  SOUTH  COAST 
RAILWAY. 

The  London,  Brighton  &  South  Coast  railway  com- 
pany has  two  departments  of  relief  for  the  benefit  of 
employees. 

The  first  is  called  the  "superannuation  fund."  The 
conditions  and  regulations  require  all  officers  and 
other  regular  employees  not  over  40  years  of  age,  from 
the  time  of  their  admission  to  the  service  and  so  long 
as  they  continue  in  it,  to  be  contributing  members. 
The  directors  have  discretionary  power  to  make  special 
arrangements  with  those  who  are  over  40  years  of  age. 

Any  contributing  member  who  may  be  dismissed 
from  the  service  for  dishonesty,  or  retiring  to  avoid 
such  dismissal,  forfeits  all  his  contributions  and  loses 
all  benefits  whatever  from  the  fund. 

In  case  of  the  death  of  a  contributing  member  be- 
fore deriving  any  benefit  from  the  fund,  the  amount 
of  his  contribution  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  with 
interest  at  the  rate  of  4  per  cent  is  to  be  paid  to  the 
legal  representatives  of  the  deceased. 

Every  contributing  member  who  shall  have  been 
such  for  a  period  of  ten  years  in  the  employ  of  the 
company,  at  the  age  of  60,  when  retiring  from  the 
service,  is  entitled  to  an  annual  allowance  for  life 
equal  to  such  proportion  of  his  average  salary  upon 
the  followini{  scale: 


^ii        RAILWAYS  AND   TH^IR   EMPLOYEES. 

After  ten  years'  contribution,  25  percent  of  average 
salary. 

After  eleven  years'  contribution,  26  per  cent  of  av- 
erage salary. 

After  twelve  years'  contribution,  27  per  cent  of 
average  salary. 

After  thirteen  years'  contribution,  28  per  cent  of 
average  salary. 

After  fourteen  years'  contribution,  29  per  cent  of 
average  salary. 

After  fifteen  years'  contribution,  30  per  cent  of 
average  salary. 

And  so  on  until  after  thirty-five  years'  subscription 
a  member  being  60  years  of  age  would  be  entitled  to 
receive  as  the  maximum  superannuation  50  per  cent 
of  his  average  salary. 

Employees  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  com- 
pany prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  fund  uninter- 
ruptedly for  a  period  of  ten  years  are  entitled  to  an 
additional  allowance  of  2^  per  cent  on  the  average 
salary,  and  those  who  have  exceeded  fifteen  years  of 
service  under  the  same  conditions  are  entitled  to  ad- 
ditions ranging  up  to  10  per  cent,  according  to  the 
length  of  service. 

Provisions  are  made  for  cases  of  retirement  in  con- 
sequence of  ill-health  or  infirmity  before  the  expira- 
tion of  ten  years,  discretion  being  given  the  directors 
to  arrange  payments  from  the  fund,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  case. 

Every  contributing  member  who  shall  not  have 
been  admitted  on  special  and  exceptional  terms  shall 
contribute  a  sum  equal  to  2  ^/^  per  cent  on   his  actual 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      89 

salary,  the  company  being  at  liberty  to  deduct  the 
contribution  pro  rata,  as  the  salaries  are  paid. 

The  company  contributes  to  the  fund  semi-annually 
out  of  its  revenues  a  sum  equal  in  amount  to  the  sum 
which,  during  the  same  half  year,  has  been  contributed 
thereto  by  the  members. 

The  sole  management  of  the  fund  is  vested  in  the 
directors. 

The  other  department  is  called  by  the  company 
"railway  servants'  insurance."  Applicants  for  insur- 
ance under  the  provisions  of  this  department  are  re- 
quired to  sign  a  prescribed  form  of  application  for  life 
insurance  against  accidents  occurring  in  the  discharge 
of  duties  in  the  service  of  the  company,  stating  the 
amount  of  insurance  desired  according  to  the  pre- 
scribed classes  in  the  form  of  application. 

Class  No.  I  carries  a  life  insurance  of  ;^2oo,  and  a 
weekly  allowance  of  20s.  in  case  of  personal  injury. 
The  premium  on  this  class  is  is.  every  two  months. 
Class  No.  2,  ;^i5o;  weekly  allowance,  15s.;  premium, 
gd.  every  two  months.  Class  No.  3,  ;;^ioo;  weekly 
allowance,  los. ;  premium,  6d.  First  class  (A),  £,2,oc\ 
weekly  allowance,  20s.;  premium,  is.  6d.  Second 
class  (A),  ^£^250;  weekly  allowance,  15s.;  premium,  is. 
3d.;  third  class  (A),  ^£.200,  weekly  allowance,  10s.: 
premium,  is. 

The  applicant  releases  the  company  from  all  claims 
for  damages  in  case  of  personal  injury  or  death  there- 
from. These  two  departments  of  the  London,  Brigh- 
ton &  South  Coast  railway  are  equivalent  or  about 
the  same  as  the  departments  of  life  insurance  and  pen- 
sions in   other   companies,  but  the  system    appears  to 


90        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

be  compulsory,  and  the  allowances  in  case  of  death  or 
superannuation  are  different,  and  the  premiums  and 
contributions  are  larger  in  the  ratio  of  larger  life  in- 
surance and  weekly  allowances. 

THE  BALTIMORE  &  OHIO  RAILROAD. 

The  Baltimore  &  Ohio  railroad  company  estab- 
lished a  "relief  department"  for  the  benefit  of  its 
employees  in  1889.  It  is  divided  into  three  sections, 
known  as  the  relief,  savings  and  pension  features,  the 
accounts  of  which  are  kept  separate.  The  railroad 
company  assumes  general  charge  of  the  department, 
furnishes  office-room  and  furniture,  gives  the  service 
of  its  officers  and  employees  and  the  use  of  its  facili- 
ties ;  becomes  the  custodian  of  its  funds,  with  full 
responsibility  therefor  and  guarantees  the  true  and 
faithful  performance  of  the  obligations  of  the  depart- 
ment in  conformity  with  the  established  regulations. 

The  relief  feature  affords  relief  to  its  members  who 
may  be  disabled  by  injury  or  sickness,  and  to  their 
families  in  the  event  of  their  death. 

Thesavings  feature  gives  employees  the  opportunity 
of  depositing  their  savings,earning  interest  thereon,  and 
enables  them  to  borrow  money  at  moderate  rates  of 
interest  and  on  easy  terms  of  repayment,  for  the 
purpose  of  acquiring  a  homestead,  or  freeing  it  from 
debt. 

The  pension  feature  makes  provision  for  those 
employees  who  from  age  or  infirmity,  are  relieved,  or 
retire  from  the  active  service  of  the  company. 

The  railway  company  contributes  to  the  depart- 
ment the  following  amounts  annually  : 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      9' 

Six  thousand  dollars  for  the  relief  feature  when  nol 
needed  for  pensions. 

Twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  pension  fea- 
ture. 

Two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  physical 
examination  of  employees. 

Membership  in  the  relief  department  is  made  a 
condition  of  employment,  except  in  cases  which  are 
specified. 

Forms  of  application  for  full  membership  of  the 
relief  department  and  for  the  "natural  death  benefit" 
are  furnished,  and  these  forms  constitute  agreements 
between  the  applicants  and  the  railway  company,  and 
the  applicant  in  these  releases  the  company  in  the 
usual  way  from  claims  which  might  otherwise  be 
made. 

The  contributing  members  are  divided  into  two 
classes,  the  first  embracing  those  who  are  engaged  in 
operating  trains  or  rolling  stock,  The  second,  those 
not  so  engaged.  The  contributions  of  the  first  class 
range  from  ^i  to  $5  per  month,  according  to  sub- 
divisions governed  by  amount  of  monthly  pay  ;  the 
contributions  of  the  second  class  range  from  seventy- 
five  (75)  cents  to  $3.75  per  month,  according  to  classi- 
fication in  the  sub-divisions. 

The  contribution  for  the  "natural  death  benefit" 
only  is  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  (25)  cents  per  month 
for  each  benefit  of  the  lowest  class. 

The  following  table  presents  the  contributions 
and  benefits  in  compact  shape,  according  to  classifi- 
cation. 


9- 


RAILWAYS   AND    IHtIR    EMPLOYEES. 


Rates  of  contribution  per  month — 

First  class  

Second  class 

Kntitling  to  benefits — 

For  accidental  injuries,  per  day, 
not  including  Sundays  and  legal 
holidays- 
First  26  weeks 

After  26  weeks 

For  sickness,  per  day,  not  in- 
cluding first  SIX  working  days, 
Sundays  or  legal  holidays,  for 
52  weeks 

In  the  event  of  death  from-- 

Accidental  injurfes 

Natural  causes 


$  i.oo 
■75 


500.00 
250.00 


$   2.00 
1.50 


I.oo 

.50 


1000.00 
500.00 


$  3.00 

2.25 


1.50 

•75 


$  4.00 
3.00 


2.00 
I.oo 


1 500.00  2000.00 
750.00  1000.00 


$  5.00 

3-75 


2,50 
1.25 


2500.00 
1250.00 


The  arrangements  to  facilitate  the  deposits  of  sav- 
ings are  carefully  prepared  and  the  facilities  given  to 
depositors  for  borrowing  are  stated  in  detail,  but 
these  features  are  not  essential  in  this  condensed 
statement. 

The  "pension  feature"  provides  for  contributions 
and  benefits  according  to  the  following  table  : 


Those  contributing  under  relief  feature 

to  class  A 

Those  contributing  under  relief   feature 

to  class  B 

Those  contributing  under   relief  feature 

to  class  C 

Those  contributing  under   relief   feature 

to  class  D 

Those  contributing  under  relief   feature 

to  class  E 


10  years 
membership 
and  under.J^ 

sick  rate. 


$0.25 
•50 


15  years 

membership, 

5  per  cent 

additional. 


$0.26  K 
■5^14 
■7SK 
1.05 

1-31  ^^ 


20  years 

niembersnip, 

10  per  cent 

additional. 


$0.2714 

•55 

.825^ 
1. 10 
^■37l4 


In  all  of  these  plans  of  relief  adopted  by  the  com- 
panies named  in  these  chapters  there  are  strong  points 
of  resemblance,  while  in  some  respects  they  differ,  but 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      9?, 

not  enough  to  conflict  with  the  general  purpose  of 
each  scheme  to  benefit  the  employees.  The  informa- 
tion herein  given,  necessarily  in  outline,  will  be  sufti- 
cient  to  enable  those  who  are  interested  in  the  sub- 
ject to  give  it  attentive  consideration.  Further  details 
can  be  easily  procured  of  the  companies  whose  plans 
are  sketched. 

The  Northern  Pacific  railway  company  has  a  relief 
system  in  operation  also,  I  understand,  but  the  details 
are  not  in  my  possession,  and  it  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  add  it  in  these  papers,  unless  it  embraces  entirely 
new  feature. 


THE  N.  O.  NELSON  MANUFACTURING  CO. 

The  only  other  establishment  which  I  propose  to 
sketch  as  an  example  of  cooperative  industry  is  that 
of  the  N.  O.  Nelson  Manufacturing  company,  a  joint 
stock  corporation  incorporated  in  Missouri. 

This  house  was  founded  in  1877,  incorporated  in 
1883  and  adopted  profit-sharing  in  1886.  Its  busi- 
ness is  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  plumbing  goods, 
steam  goods  and  machinery.  It  has  factories  in  St. 
Louis,  Mound  City,  111.,  and  Leclaire,  111.  It  employs 
from  400  to  500  men. 

The  following  is  a  condensed  statement  of  the  svs- 
tem  of  profit-sharing  and  its  results  : 

After  allowing  interest  on  the  capital,  one-tenth  of 
the  profits  is  set  aside  for  a  reserve  fund,  one-tenth 
for  a  provident  fund  and  one-tvventieth  for  an  educa- 
tional fund.  The  balance  is  divided  between  capital 
and  waares.      The  reserve  fund  meets  the  losses  of  bad 


94        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

years  and  serves  to  equalize  dividends  when  profits 
are  small. 

The  provident  fund  takes  care  of  the  sick  and  dis- 
abled and  the  families  of  deceased.  The  management 
of  the  fund  is  entrusted  to  a  committee  of  five  of  the 
employes,  and  elected  by  them.  The  educational 
fund  is  to  provide  a  library  for  the  employees. 

The  result  of  the  first  year's  business  was  a  divi- 
dend of  5  per  cent  on  wages,  the  second  year  lo  per 
cent,  the  third  lo  per  cent,  the  fourth  8  per  cent,  the 
fifth  lo  per  cent,  the  sixth  8  per  cent,  the  seventh  4 
per  cent  and  the  eighth  year  (1893)  nothing. 

At  first  the  dividends  were  payable  in  cash.  In 
1890,  after  having  paid  cash  dividends  for  four  years, 
the  rule  was  changed  so  as  to  make  them  payable  in 
stock  of  the  company.  This  was  designed  to  make 
the  dividends  accumulate,  instead  of  being  consumed. 
Whenever  any  employee  quits  the  service  of  the  com- 
pany it  has  hitherto  been  the  practice  to  redeem  the 
stock  at  par.  In  1892  the  manner  of  dividends  was 
modified  so  as  to  give  2  per  cent  dividend  to  wages  to 
each  I  per  cent  on  capital.  The  earlier  practice  of 
setting  aside  10  per  cent  for  provident  fund  and  5  per 
cent  for  educational  fund  was  changed  to  that  of  pay- 
ing out  whatever  amounts  were  required  for  these  pur- 
poses and  at  the  end  of  the  year  charging  them  against 
the  profits. 

The  dividends  paid  in  wages  have  amounted  to  a 
little  more  than  $60,000  and  the  payments  by  the 
provident  committee  to  something  over  $6,000. 

The  following  succinct  statement  of  the  practical 
operation  of  the  company  under   the   foregoing  ar- 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      95 

rangements  gives  the  information  upon  this  point  in  a 
compact  paragraph  : 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  the  management  that  waste  of 
time  and  material  has  been  reduced  and  better  atten- 
tion has  been  secured ;  but  whether  this  amounts  to 
more  or  less  than  the  dividends  paid  the  managers  do 
not  venture  to  say.  For  four  years  the  working  time 
has  been  nine  hours  a  day  without  any  change  of  pay. 
In  the  summer  of  1893  the  scarcity  of  money  and  the 
necessity  of  granting  unusual  accommodation  to  cus- 
tomers induced  the  management  to  submit  to  its  force 
a  proposition  to  pay  only  three-fourths  of  the  usual 
rate  of  wages  until  times  should  be  better,  promising 
however  to  pay  the  other  quarter  whenever  profits 
were  earned  in  excess  of  interest  on  capital.  This 
was  assented  to  by  all  departments,  after  full  discus- 
sion in  open  meeting,  without  any  objection.  At  the 
end  of  three  months  full  pay  was  resumed,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  year  it  was  found  that  the  earnings  would 
pay  the  other  one-quarter  of  wages  and  interest  on 
capital.  For  the  year  1894  it  was  mutually  decided  to 
run  ten  hours  instead  of  nine,  to  make  up  for  the  low 
prices  prevailing  and  to  keep  up  with  the  good  de- 
mand for  goods.  This  conclusion  is  based  upon  the 
belief  that  nine  hours  will  produce  a  larger  yield  per 
houi  than  ten  hours,  but  will  not  yield  as  large  in  the 
total.  It  is  the  intention  to  resume  a  nine-hour  day 
in  the  near  future." 

About  one-half  of  the  company's  works  are  located 
at  Village  Leclaire,  near  and  a  part  of  the  township  of 
Edwardsville,  111.,  about  18  miles  from  St.  Louis.  It 
was  located   in    1890.     The   village  is  pleasantly  and 


96        RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

conveniently  located  ;  has  good  streets  and  roadways, 
paved  with  cinder.  P21m  and  maple  trees  line  the 
streets,  and  the  town  is  provided  with  water  and  elec- 
tric lights.  The  company  builds  the  houses  on  plans 
mutually  agreed  upon  and  charges  for  them  the  cost 
of  raw  material  and  labor,  plus  the  average  profit 
made  by  the  manufacturing  business.  The  payments 
per  month  for  these  houses  range  from  $10  to  ^20.  It 
is  intended  to  enable  everyone  to  secure  a  house  and 
to  make  the  payments  as  he  can  afford.  When  a  man 
wishes  to  remove  and  dispose  of  his  property  the 
company  voluntarily  takes  it  back  at  the  purchase 
price,  refunds  the  money  paid  on  it  and  charges  rent 
for  the  time  occupied.  Water  is  free  to  all  the  houses. 
Electric  light  is  provided  at  twenty-five  cents  each 
lamp  per  month.  Employees  of  the  company  are  free 
to  live  where  they  please. 

Among  the  conveniences  and  attractions  of  the 
Village  Leclaire  are  a  club  house,  which  embraces  a 
cooperative  boarding  club  ;  a  cooperative  store,  a 
free  billiard  room  and  bowling  alley  and  a  library 
society  for  providing  lectures.  There  is  a  well-trained 
military  band  of  18  regular  members  and  an  auxiliary 
corps  of  12.  In  the  summer  this  band  performs  two 
nights  each  week  on  the  lawn  adjoining  the  club 
house.  The  library  consists  of  600  freshly  selected 
books.     This  is  free  to  all. 

A  kindergarten  was  started  in  1892  and  has  kept 
increasing.  It  has  one  endowment  of  $10,000  in  the 
stock  of  the  company. 

This  imperfect  outline  of  the  Village  Leclaire  as  a 
part  of  the  cooperative   enterprise  of  the   N.  O.  Nel- 


EXAMPLES  OF  COOPERATIVE  METHODS.      97 

son  Manufacturing  company  will  probably  interest 
the  readers  of  these  papers,  as  illustrating  some  of  the 
advantages  of  a  liberal  system  of  cooperation  or 
profit-sharing.  One  is  tempted  by  the  description  of 
generous  provisions  of  the  company  to  seek  a  resi- 
dence in  a  town  which  combines  so  many  comforts 
with  sound  methods  for  mental  and  physical  improve- 
ment. 

The  managers  of  the  company  do  not  claim  that 
Leclaire  is  a  model  village,  and  they  are  careful  to 
disclaim  any  philanthropic  object  in  the  scheme.  It 
is  evident  however  that  the  plan  of  operation  and 
development  has  been  carefully  designed  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  employes  and  to  make  profit  shar- 
ing a  success. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
FALLACY   OF    SOCIALISTIC    IDEAS. 

Having  now  sketched  cooperative  plans  in  actual 
operation,  both  in  railway  service  and  manufacturing, 
I  have  furnished  ample  evidence  in  favor  of  the  prac- 
ticability of  such  schemes  and  of  their  successful  oper- 
ation through  many  vears.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
improvements  may  be  suggested  which  would  add  to 
the  popularity,  as  well  as  the  efficiency  of  these  co- 
operative systems,  but  even  if  there  are  imperfections, 
they  do  not  constitute  valid  objections  to  the  general 
merit  of  cooperative  plans  based  upon  the  relief 
afforded  by  life  insurance  and  pensions.  A  study  of 
the  subject  in  all  its  details  should  result  in  the  adop- 
tion of  the  best  system  of  cooperative  benefit  which 
human  intelligence  can  devise  under  present  condi- 
tions. It  is,  therefore,  justifiable  to  claim  that  the  co- 
operative system  as  practically  applied  in  the  illustra- 
tions given  is  an  entire  success. 

If  this  is  admitted,  what  better  remedy  can  be  de- 
vised for  the  social  inequalities  of  which  complaint  is 
made  by  those  who  unite  under  the  generic  name  of 
socialism? 

This  question  involves  another,  the  answer  to  which 
is  essential  to  the  argument  of  this  paper — What  is 
socialism? 

With  the  nihilist  and  the  anarchist,  who  claim 
98 


FALLACY   OF    SOCIALISTIC    IDEAS.  99 

places  in  its  ranks,  it  means  literally  destruction  and 
chaos,  for  nihilism  has  no  sense  as  understood  from 
its  Latin  derivation,  except  as  embraced  in  the  word 
annihilation,  and  anarchy  means  the  reduction  of 
everything  to  a  chaotic  state,  which  would  result  in 
about  the  same  consequences.  But  this  is  merely  in- 
sanity, and  we  cannot  reason  with  maniacs.  The  only 
conceivable  ground  for  such  organizations  is  that  men 
who  support  such  fiendish  doctrines,  look  upon  the 
methods  adopted  by  professional  artists  in  that  line 
as  the  best  practical  way  of  gaining  social  equality  bv 
spreading  terror  throughout  the  community. 

The  logic  is  something  like  this :  I,f  we  strike  peo- 
ple with  terror  by  frightful  assassinations,  either  indi- 
vidually or  collectively,  by  the  knife  which  takes  the 
life  of  the  lamented  Carnot,  or  spreads  death  or 
mutilation  in  an  assemblage  at  the  theater  or  a  res- 
taurant, we  diffuse  terror  among  the  people,  and  the 
more  terrible  our  methods  and  the  more  numerous  the 
examples,  the  sooner  we  shall  force  society  to  rectify 
the  inequalities  for  which  it  is  responsible. 

The  nihilist,  who  seems  to  be  strictly  a  Russian 
product,  probably  confines  his  attempt  to  an  effort 
toward  the  reconstruction  of  the  government,  but  the 
anarchist  seems  to  be  the  foe  of  all  mankind.  In 
either  case,  it  is  probable  that  I  have  stated  the  real 
motive  which  governs  these  destructive  agencies.  If 
so,  they  have  a  definite  object  in  view,  and  it  is  ap- 
plied by  anarchists  to  society  in  the  same  sense.  So 
in  the  one  case  terror  is  expected  to  compel  a  modifi- 
cation in  the  form  of  government,  and  in  the  other  a 
reconstruction   of   society.      The   fallacy  of   this   idea 


lOO         RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

can  be  easily  proved,  and  this  I  propose  to  attempt, 
but  it  is  first  necessary  to  continue  the  analysis  of 
socialism  in  its  milder  aspect,  in  which  form  all  its 
real  strength  is  concentrated. 

Eliminating  the  murder  element,  we  have  a  large 
body  of  socialists  impressed  with  the  idea  that  there 
is  something  wrong  in  the  social  status  of  mankind 
which  comj^els  or  allows  one  portion  thereof  to  exist 
in  poverty,  or  under  conditions  which  recjuire  inces- 
sant toil  to  provide  even  the  necessaries  of  life,  while 
the  other  portion  live  in  luxury  and  wealth,  or  in  cir- 
cumstances of  comparative  ease  and  comfort.  "This 
is  all  wrong,"  says  the  moderate  socialist.  "There  is 
enough  in  the  product  of  manual  labor  in  the  world  to 
give  all  of  its  inhabitants  a  comfortable  living,  and  if 
labor  had  its  proper  share  in  the  distribution  of  this 
product,  suffering  among  the  toilers  would  cease  and 
mankind  as  a  whole  would  be  the  better  for  it.  Here 
on  the  one  hand,  are  people  rolling  in  wealth,  who 
command  our  services  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  our 
labor,  while  we  get  but  a  scanty  share  of  this  product, 
and,  even  then,  endure  hard  work  and  undergo  many 
privations." 

Without  attempting  to  cover  the  whole  ground  of 
complaint,  I  have  probably  outlined  the  substance  of 
the  socialistic  idea  which  seeks  to  combine  the  inter- 
ests of  labor  against  those  of  capital,  and  to  promote 
an  antagonism  which  seeks  by  unjust  methods  and  by 
force  to  accomplish  its  purpose.  The  fallacy  of  this 
proposition  I  hope  to  show  and  to  point  out  the  only 
intelligent  and  practical  way  of  solving  the  problem 
so  far  as  its  solution  is  possible. 


FALLACY   OF   SOCIALISTIC    IDEAS,  loi 

In  the  first  place  the  assumption  that  antagonism 
exists  between  capital  and  labor  is  not  warranted  in 
any  sense  of  hostile  interests,  nor  can  it  be  thus 
represented  except  by  a  distortion  of  terms,  which 
places  employers  always  in  the  ranks  of  capital  and 
employees  in  those  of  labor.  A  vast  majority  of  the 
employers  of  labor  are  not  capitalists  but  men  work- 
ing, in  their  way,  as  hard  as  day  laborers  to  provide 
for  their  families  and  to  accumulate  enough  to  keep 
them  from  want.  They  are  borrowers  of  capital  and 
not  lenders.  This  applies  not  only  to  individual  em- 
plovers  but  to  corporations,  which  by  a  fiction  of  the 
imagination  are  represented  to  be  monsters  of  greed 
fattened  upon  the  spoils  of  humanity  and  rolling  in 
wealth.  These  corporations  are  the  largest  borrowers 
of  capital,  as  everyone  knows  who  has  given  the  sub- 
ject any  real  attention,  and  it  is  equally  well  known 
that  a  large  majority  of  the  capitalists  or  lenders  are 
the  thrifty  laboring  people  who  have  invested  their 
surplus  earnings  in  savings  banks,  or  who  are  them- 
selves holders  of  the  stock  and  bonds  of  these  corpor- 
ations. Are  these  the  capitalists  against  which  labor 
is  so  ostentatiouslv  arrayed?  Who  own  the  bonds  of 
states,  counties,  cities  and  towns?  Ask  the  savings 
banks.  Who  own  the  bonds  and  stock  of  railway 
and  manufacturing  companies?  Consult  the  stock 
lists  and  the  bond  registers.  Not  that  so-called  cap- 
italists may  not  own  largely  in  such  securities,  that  is 
a  matter  of  course,  but  the  great  bulk  of  such  property 
is  owned  by  the  middling,  well-to-do  classes  and  the 
labor  interest,  which  last  represents  an  enormous  cap- 
ital. And,  therefore,  as  labor  cannot  intend  to  antago- 


I02        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

nize  itself,  I  infer  a  gross  misconception  on  the  psLrl 
of  socialists  who  dwell  so  much  upon  the  tyranny  of 
capital  and  the  slavery  of  labor. 

The  only  question  really  involved  in  the  discussion 
is  that  of  an  adjustment  of  the  relations  between  em- 
ployers and  employed,  which  might  place  the  latter 
upon  a  more  equal  footing  in  sharing  the  profits  of 
labor,  and  it  is  in  the  consideration  of  this  question 
that  the  leaders  of  socialism  commit  their  greatest 
errors.  Employers  of  labor,  whether  in  corporate  or 
individual  capacity,  are  governed,  mainly,  by  one 
leading  object,  that  is  the  prosperity  of  their  under- 
takings. It  is,  of  course,  possible,  in  the  pursuit  of 
this  object  that  the  employer  may  exact  too  much  of 
those  he  employs,  but  the  most  influential  factor  in 
the  adjustment  of  wages  is  competition.  It  requires 
but  little  sagacity  to  arrive  at  the  conclusion,  that  if 
a  manufacturer  finds  he  cannot  sell  his  goods  at  a 
profit,  he  must  either  stop  his  manufacture  or  decrease 
the  cost  of  his  fabrics,  and  if  the  raw  materials  cannot 
be  secured  at  lower  prices  the  reduction,  if  made  at 
all,  must  come  in  wages.  This  rule  applies  to  all  in- 
dustries and  to  all  transportation  agencies,  modified 
only  by  the  different  character  of  the  industry.  Now, 
here  is  no  question  between  capital  and  labor,  but 
between  the  conditions  of  industry  and  the  conditions 
of  the  market.  It  is  sometimes  the  result  of  excessive 
competition  and  consequent  over-production,  or  of 
bad  legislation,  or  of  both,  and  sometimes  the  unwel- 
come phase  in  industrial  evolution  is  the  consequences 
of  a  commercial  or  financial  crisis,  which,  for  a  time, 
puts  the  business  machinery  of  the  world  out  of  gear. 


FALLACY    OF   SOCIALISTIC    IDEAS.  103 

An  industry  may  be  followed  for  a  time  even  at  a  loss 
to  the  proprietary  or  employing  interest,  because  loss 
in  some  shape  is  sure  to  result  from  stopping  ma- 
chinery and  disorganizing  the  forces  which  direct  it, 
and  it  is  often  better  to  suffer  temporary  loss  than  to 
abandon  the  field  of  industry,  if  the  adverse  current  is 
but  an  eddy  which  can  soon  be  passed;  but  if  pro- 
tracted losses  threaten  the  industry  it  will  come  to  an 
end,  or  it  will  adjust  itself  to  the  new  conditions 
forced  upon  it. 

The  easiest  way  would  be  to  restore  market  prices 
for  goods;  but  this  is  clearly  impossible,  unless  by 
legislation  we  can  compel  people  to  increase  their  con- 
sumption of  /ood  and  raiment.  Advocates  of  the 
paternal  system  of  government  which  is  to  take  charge 
of  everything  may  see  a  way  of  arranging  such  mat- 
ters, but  such  experiments  have  always  proved  futile 
in  the  past,  and  in  all  human  probability  will  be 
equally  impracticable  in  the  future. 

If  the  cost  of  the  fabric  is  made  up  between  raw 
materials  and  labor,  the  reduction  must  come  in  one 
or  both,  and  in  either  case  it  falls  upon  labor  some- 
where; for  if  raw  materials  decline  beyond  a  certain 
point  the  production  will  cease  unless  the  labor  em- 
ployed in  it  is  reduced.  We  meet  these  difficulties  in 
several  ways.  First,  we  curtail  the  production;  sec- 
ond, we  try  to  stimulate  the  consumption  by  lower 
prices;  and  third,  by  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, which  involves  lower  wages.  There  is  no 
escape  from  the  trouble  by  any  avenue  known  to  man, 
unless  the  road  to  Utopia  is  open. 

It  is,  therefore,  in  the  adjustment  of  the  relations 


I04        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

between  employers  and  employed  that  the  true  remedy 
is  to  be  found,  and  this  method  is  the  groundwork  of 
the  cooperative  idea.  How  can  an  adjustment  be 
successfully  carried  out  which  will  place  employers 
and  employed  upon  a  more  equal  footing,  so  that  if 
adversity  comes  it  may  be  equitably  distributed? 

Socialism  in  the  abstract  is  as  old  as  authentic  his- 
tory. It  was  discussed  by  the  Greek  philosophers, 
and  especially  by  Plato,  and  may  be  traced  through 
the  intermediate  centuries  down  to  the  present  day, 
not  only  in  theory  but  in  practice,  although  the  theo- 
retical has  naturally  absorbed  the  most  attention;  it  is 
so  much  easier  to  preach  than  to  practice.  It  may  be 
asserted,  too,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  all  ex- 
periments of  a  practical  character,  except  those  of 
the  present  century  in  a  cooperative  way,  some  ac- 
count of  which  I  have  given,  have  been  dismal  failures 
except  in  the  small  communities  which  are  still  in  ex- 
istence and  which  are  essential  modifications  of  the 
original  socialistic  idea  and  which,  to  some  extent,  in- 
volve religious  creeds.  Plato's  Republic,  the  Italian 
Campanella's  Civitas  Solis,  Sir  Thomas  More's  Utopia 
and  the  works  of  Harrington,  Hall,  Fenelon,  Defoe  and 
Bacon,  as  well  as  those  of  Louis  Blanc,  Auguste  Comte 
and  Stein  of  the  nineteenth  century,  are  all  ideal  pic- 
tures of  society,  in  which  the  writers  indulge  in  the 
delights  of  fancy.  Bellamy's  "Looking  Backward"  is 
an  interesting  imitation  of  More's  Utopia.  The 
teachings  of  Robert  Owen  and  Fourrier  were  accom- 
panied by  practical  experiments,  the  results  of  which 
demonstrate  the  fallacies  of  the  ideal.  The  Brook 
farm   in   Roxbury,  Mass.,  was  one  of  the  Fourrier  ex- 


FALLACY   OF   SOCIALISTIC   IDEAS.  105 

perinients  of  modern  days  and  some  of  its  members 
are  still  living  to  attest  its  impracticability. 

From  the  mass  of  evidence  furnished  by  these  fail- 
ures in  the  practical,  and  in  these  exaggerations  so 
evident  in  the  theoretical,  what  should  be  the  logical 
deduction?  Are  we  not  led  irresistibly  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  failures  to  reconstruct  industrial  re- 
lations are  the  consequence  of  the  attempts  to  improve 
or  violate  natural  laws?  On  the  other  hand,  in  the 
examples  of  a  successful  application  of  the  cooperative 
idea  adjusted  to  existing  conditions  of  human  life,  as 
illustrated  by  Leclaire  and  Godin  in  France,  by  Dolge 
and  others  in  the  United  States,  and  by  the  relief  de- 
partments established  in  some  of  the  railway  systems 
of  the  World,  do  we  not  find  forcible  arguments  in 
favor  of  such  movements  as  the  wisest  solution  of  the 
social  problem  known  to  our  limited  intelligence? 

We  know  that  the  subject  of  social  reform  has  been 
pondered  and  discussed  in  every  aspect,  at  intervals, 
for  more  than  twenty  centuries  by  some  of  the  best 
intellects  of  the  time,  not  without  profit  to  humanity 
perhaps,  but  certainly  without  bringing  the  results 
which  were  fondly  dreamed  of  by  the  advocates  of 
changes  of  an  utterly  impracticable  character ;  not 
without  profit,  I  say,  because  great  progress  has  cer- 
tainly been  made  in  the  social  status  of  man,  and  some 
part  of  this  may  be  fairly  claimed  as  the  outcome  of 
the  teachings  to  which  I  have  referred,  but  still  we 
know  that  the  improvement  has  come  upon  different 
lines  and  by  methods  greatly  at  variance  with  the 
theories  of  most  of  the  teachers.  The  inference  to  be 
drawn  from  this  is,  I  think,  that  modern  methods  have 


•o6        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

been  adapted  to  the  actual  conditions  of  society  and 
have  been  applied  in  a  practical,  coiiiuionsense  way, 
instead  of  attempting  experiments  founded  upon  Uto- 
pian dreams  or  upon  the  imaginative  backward  glance 
of  generations  yet  to  come. 

If  we  consider  some  of  the  remedies  proposed  by 
socialists  of  the  reasonable  school,  how  weak  they  ap- 
pear when  we  follow  the  various  propositions  through 
the  phases  of  a  practical  e.xperiment.  Take  an  illus- 
tration from  the  very  interesting  book  of  Mr.  Henry 
George  called  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  and  however 
much  we  may  differ  on  some  points  in  his  postulate, 
yet  how  strong  and  intelligent  it  is  compared  to  the 
remedy  he  proposes.  Who  could  have  anticipated  so 
pitiful  a  conclusion  from  such  a  powerful  display  in 
the  preliminary  preparations?  And  thus  it  is  with  all 
schemes  which  do  not  take  into  consideration  existing 
conditions.  Mr.  George's  book  has  had  a  very  large 
circulation  because  it  is  a  plausible  and  vigorous 
presentation  of  one  side  of  the  case,  but  his  remedy  in 
the  shape  of  a  single  tax  has  but  few  supporters, 
simply  because  in  the  nature  of  the  case  it  is  utterly 
impracticable. 

Examine  the  theory  of  "paternalism"  or  govern- 
ment control,  which  some  believe  to  be  the  true  rem- 
edy for  social  inequality,  and  which  forms  the  basis 
of  Mr.  Bellamy's  argument  —  how  discouraging  and 
degrading  it  appears  when  we  contemplate  the  sur- 
render of  personal  independence  involved  and  the 
sacrifice  of  competitive  intelligence  which  the  plan 
compels.  Has  mankind  struggled  against  govern- 
mental control  over  individual  action,  bevond  the  en- 


FALLACY   OF   SOCIALISTIC   IDEAS.  107 

forcenient  of  salutary  laws,  and  accomplished  so  much 
for  personal  liberty  to  listen  with  tranquillity  to  a  prop- 
osition to  return  to  government  the  functions  which 
do  not  legitimately  belong  to  it?  Is  it  possible  in  the 
nineteenth  century  to  find  men  who  are  willing  to 
become  automatons  to  dance  when  government  offi- 
cials pull  the  strings?  The  only  proof  offered  in  favor 
of  paternalism  or  government  ownership  is  in  the  fact 
that  the  national  government  owns  and  controls  the 
railways  and  telegraph  in  some  countries  and  that 
cities  own  and  control  water  works  and  in  some 
instances  gaslight  works.  This  is  true,  but  not  a  soli- 
tary case  can  be  given  where  this  ownership  and  con- 
trol have  proved  superior  to  individual  ownership.  In 
fact,  as  to  the  railway  and  the  telegraph,  the  evidence, 
upon  the  whole,  is  against  the  experiment.  As  to 
railways,  Australia  furnishes  an  opportunity  for  investi- 
gation and  comparison  which  I  fear  the  advocates  of 
paternalism  will  not  avail  of.  A  thorough  examina- 
tion of  that  experience  would  be  of  unusual  interest. 
But  the  most  bewildering  part  of  these  essays  as  to  the 
proposed  governmental  control  is  to  be  found  in  the 
plans  of  acquisition.  One  method  is  to  take  posses- 
sion under  the  right  of  "eminent  domain,"  which  may 
be  practicable,  but  as  this  involves  damages,  the  finan- 
cial question  is  no  nearer  solution  under  that  process 
than  before.  Another  proposes  the  issue  of  govern- 
ment bonds  at  an  interest  of  3  per  cent  on  a  fair  valu- 
ation or  a  guarantee  of  a  consolidated  stock  at  that 
rate  of  interest,  all  of  which  reads  well  so  far  as  it  goes; 
but  when  the  advocate  begins  to  figure  on  net  earnings 
and  to  calculate  the  interest  on  that  basis  he  forgets 


io8         RAILWAYS   AND    THEIR    KMl'LOYEES. 

the  difference  in  mortgage  bonds  whicli  are  contracts 
and  stock  which  depends  on  surplus  earnings.  It 
never  seems  to  occur  to  the  theoretical  essayist  that 
railway  mortgages  might  be  an  obstacle  to  "eminent 
domain"  unless  provided  for  under  the  terms  of  the 
contracts. 

But  these  discussions  are  idle.  If  it  is  desirable  to 
obtain  the  ownership  and  control  of  railways  and  tele- 
graph for  government,  it  can  be  accomplished  by  fair 
means,  but  never  by  fraudulent  or  unjust  legislation. 
Under  present  circumstances  railway  companies  no 
doubt  would  be  willing  to  arrange  a  transfer  of  own- 
ership if  such  a  change  should  be  demanded  by  the 
people;  but  it  would  be  premature  to  fix  the  price  or 
to  arrange  the  terms  until  the  popular  voice  calls  for 
the  transfer.  In  the  judgment  of  the  writer  this  pro- 
ject has  no  substantial  support  outside  of  lecture 
rooms  and  debating  societies.  We  may  safely  con- 
clude that  the  entire  scheme  of  paternalism  is  a  nos- 
trum for  the  cure  of  social  troubles,  recommended 
only  by  theorists  who  have  not  given  the  subject 
thorough  study.  It  seems  to  be  waste  of  time  to 
dwell  upon  these  crudities  of  speculation.  If  the 
social  status  of  the  world  is  to  be  improved,  the  way 
should  be  simple  and  the  method  equitable  and  prac- 
tical. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

DISTRIBUTION    PRACTICALLY    ILLUSTRATED. 

During  the  period  of  the  peasants'  revolt  in  Eng- 
land in  1347  to  1 36 1,  John  Ball,  "a  mad  priest  of 
Kent,"  as  Froissart  calls  him,  preached  to  the  poor, 
and  for  twenty  years  kept  up  the  propagation  of  his 
peculiar  ideas,  always  attracting  large  audiences  in 
spite  of  interdict  and  imprisonment.  Green's  History 
of  the  English  People  gives  the  following  quotation 
from  one  of  his  sermons: 

"  Good  people,  there  will  never  be  well  in  England, 
so  longe  as  goods  be  not  in  common,  and  so  long  as 
there  be  villeins  and  gentlemen.  By  what  right  are 
they  whom  we  call  lords  greater  folk  than  we?  On 
what  grounds  have  they  deserved  it?  Why  do  they 
hold  us  in  serfage?  If  we  all  came  from  the  same 
father  and  mother — of  Adam  and  of  Eve — how  can 
they  say  or  prove  that  they  are  better  than  we,  if  it  be 
not  that  they  make  us  gain  for  them  by  our  toil  what 
they  spend  in  their  pride?  They  are  clothed  in  velvet 
and  warm  in  their  furs  and  their  ermines,  while  we  are 
covered  with  rags.  They  have  wine  and  spices  and 
fair  bread,  and  we  oat  cake  and  straw  and  water  to 
drink.  They  have  leisure  and  fine  houses;  we  have 
pain  and  labor,  the  rain  and  the  wind  in  the  fields. 
And  yet,  it  is  of  us  and  of  our  toil  that  these  men  hold 
their  state." 

log 


no         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

Here  we  have,  expressed  in  our  own  language,  more 
than  500  years  since,  substantially  the  same  complaint 
as  that  made  by  the  modern  socialist  near  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  So  far  as  John  Ball  described 
the  condition  of  the  working  classes  at  the  time,  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  wealthy  and  middling,  well- 
to-do  classes,  he  spoke  the  truth,  no  doubt,  just  as  the 
socialists  of  our  time  may  give  a  correct  idea  of  the 
social  inequalities  of  the  present  day,  and  exactly  as 
anyone  may  describe  the  existence  of  extremes  in 
wealth  and  poverty — the  comfort  and  luxury  of  the 
one  and  the  privation  and  distress  of  the  other — but 
the  difificulty  in  these  cases  is  that  like  a  physician 
they  may  correctly  diagnose  a  disease,  but  having  ar- 
rived at  that  point  they  not  only  fail  in  prescribing  a 
practicable  remedy,  but  they  mislead  people  in  attrib- 
uting the  cause  of  the  disorder  to  classes  in  the  strata 
of  humanity  who  are  no  more  responsible  for  it  than 
those  who  suffer  most  from  it.  Hence,  John  Ball  may 
have  preached  the  truth  when  he  described  the  ine- 
qualities which  existed,  and  he  may  have  enlisted  the 
sympathies  of  fair-minded  people  for  those  who  were 
unfortunate  enough  to  be  obliged  to  live  on  "  oat 
cake  and  straw  and  water  to  drink,"  or  who  are  "cov- 
ered with  rags"  while  others  "have  wine  and  spices 
and  are  clothed  in  velvet  and  warm  in  their  furs  and 
their  ermines;"  but  when  we,  perhaps,  admit  all  this 
and  ask  for  the  remedy  we  are  told  that  there  will  be 
no  "  well  in  England  so  longe  as  goods  be  not  in  com- 
mon." In  other  words,  John  Ball's  remedy  was  con- 
fiscation of  all  property  rights  and  redistribution  that 
goods  may  be   "in  common."     The  preacher   of   the 


DISTRIBUTION    ILLUSTRATED.  i  i  i 

fourteenth  century  it  therefore  appears  could  only 
find  a  remedy  for  the  inequalities  of  society  by  rob- 
bing not  only  those  who  "wear  velvet  and  drink  wine 
and  spices,"  but  those  who  are  moderately  comforta- 
ble in  their  circumstances.  So  John  Ball  wants  to 
adopt  Procrustean  methods  and  regulate  the  physical 
and  mental  conditions  of  humanity  by  a  machine, 
which,  by  cutting  down  or  stretching,  will  make  peo- 
ple of  equal  length,  or  by  squeezing  or  inflating  will 
make  them  equal  in  bulk.  In  modern  times  this  heal- 
ing process  is  called  "  paternalism."  And  so  John  Ball 
excited  the  hostility  of  the  poor  against  the  rich  and 
against  the  middling  class  by  exhibiting  them  as  the 
responsible  authors  of  the  inequalities  he  describes. 
The  result  was  riot  and  bloodshed,  then  suppression 
and  greater  suffering  for  the  time. 

The  modern  socialist  of  the  violent  or  energetic 
school  advocates  the  same  idea  as  that  which  pene- 
trated the  mind  of  the  mad  preacher  of  Kent,  but  dis- 
guises it  in  a  robe  of  universal  benevolence,  sometimes 
advocating  robbery  of  classes  under  the  form  of 
legal  confiscation,  but  more  generally  in  propositions 
to  acquire  by  compensation  certain  kinds  of  property 
to  be  held  in  common,  through  government.  The 
schemes  of  acquisition,  as  we  have  shown  in  regard  to 
railway  property,  are  mostly  crude  and  impracticable. 
Thus,  when  injustice  and  robbery  are  not  the  basis  of 
establishing  an  ownership  "  in  common"  the  schemes 
resolve  themselves  into  utterly  impracticable  methods, 
as  idle  and  foolish  as  are  the  schemes  of  the  populist 
school  to  revolutionize  finance. 

It  did  not  seem  to  enter  the  head  of  John  Ball  any 


113        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

more  than  it  seems  to  occur  to  modern  socialists  of 
the  extremist  order  that  a  condition  of  inequality, 
which  has  existed  for  ages,  may  be  largely  owing  to 
the  natural  inequalities  of  mental  and  physical  organ- 
ization of  human  beings,  for  which  no  mortal  can  be 
held  responsible,  and  partly  to  the  prevalence  of  vice, 
for  which  certainly  the  vicious  are  more  responsible 
than  the  honest  and  virtuous.  They  depict  the  evils 
truthfully  in  most  cases,  but  they  turn  as  if  by  in- 
stinct to  the  classes  who  are  not  in  the  lower  stratum 
of  society,  not  to  ask  their  sympathy  and  co-opera- 
tion in  efforts  to  remove  or  at  least  to  mitigate  condi- 
tions which  all  deplore,  but  to  say  to  them  :  "  You 
must  be  stripped  of  what  you  have  acquired  by  your 
industry  and  commendable  conduct  in  the  world,  or 
of  what  you  may  have  inherited,  to  relieve  those  who 
are  either  unfortunate,  idle  or  vicious.  Why?  Not 
that  you  are  responsible  for  the  circumstances,  but 
because  you  happen  to  be  more  able  or  more  indus- 
trious and  more  temperate,  or  because  your  fathers 
were  before  you."  And  this  glorious  reward  of  merit 
is  their  great  panacea  for  the  cure  of  a  disorder  which 
is  to  a  large  extent  incurable  by  a  decree  of  nature 
beyond  human  control. 

John  Ball's  remedy  was  tried  two  thousand  years 
since  by  the  Gracchi  in  the  Roman  Republic,  and  so- 
cialistic doctrines  of  this  character  were  about  as  well 
illustrated  in  the  theories  and  practice  of  the  two  ill- 
fated  brothers  as  in  any  of  the  numerous  examples 
since.  The  study  of  these  social  experiments  is  inter- 
esting and  instructive,  but  is  open  to  the  students  of 
history  and    is    doubtless    familiar    to    most    of    our 


DISTRIBUTION    ILLUSTRATED.  113 

readers.  The  first  impulses  of  the  brothers  Gracchus 
were  noble,  as  they  contemplated  relief  to  the  poor 
and  down-trodden,  and  they  were  popular  because 
they  appeared  to  be  in  the  direction  of  improvement 
and  reform.  Corruption  was  then,  as  now,  too  widely 
prevalent,  and  such  abuses  of  public  trust  were  sap- 
ping the  vital  forces  of  the  republic;  but  the  brothers 
were  not  content  with  salutary  measures  of  reform. 
They  were  led  on  by  ambition  to  unjust  and  illegal 
schemes  which  were  in  direct  conflict  with  the  prin- 
ciples which  at  first  governed  their  conduct.  Hence 
they  failed.  But  the  point  to  which  I  desire  to  call 
attention  is  to  the  terms  of  the  agrarian  scheme  which 
Tiberius,  the  elder  brother,  carried,  in  the  revival  of 
the  Licinian  law.  The  land  taken  for  distribution 
was  paid  for  by  the  state.  No  one,  even  at  that  re- 
mote period,  dared  to  propose  confiscation  to  carry 
out  the  scheme.  In  this  respect  some  of  our  modern 
socialists  who  justify  robbery  for  the  public  good 
could  take  useful  lessons  of  the  Gracchi. 

But  the  fatal  defects  of  the  "  property  in  common  " 
remedy  are  immediately  exposed  when  the  proposi- 
tions are  followed  out  in  a  practical  illustration.  The 
theory  of  distribution  of  property  as  a  remedy  for  in- 
equality of  condition  is  ingeniously  and  thoroughly 
worked  out  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Mallock  in  a  work  recently 
published  entitled  "Labor  and  the  Popular  Welfare." 
Mr.  Mallock  first  takes  income  as  the  basis  of  distri- 
bution, as  in  this  form  only  is  division  possible.  The 
gross  income  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
is  computed  to  be  in  round  numbers  thirteen  hundred 
million  pounds,  but  a  considerable  amount  of  this  is 


114        RAILWAYS  AND    THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

counted  twice  as  taxable  income,  which  of  course 
would  not  be  available  for  distribution.  This  amount 
is  estimated  at  one  hundred  million  pounds.  Deduct- 
ing this,  the  amount  available  would  be  twelve  hun- 
dred million  pounds.  The  sum  distributed  annually 
to  the  38,000,000  of  population  in  equal  proportion 
would  give  to  each  individual  £,'^2,  or  at  S4.87  to  the 
pound  sterling,  the  sum  of  $155.84.  But,  as  Mr. 
Mallock  says : 

"  This  sort  of  equality  in  distribution  would  satisfy 
nobody,  for  a  quarter  of  the  population  are  children 
under  ten  years  of  age  and  nearly  two-fifths  are  under 
fifteen,  and  it  would  be  absurd  to  assign  to  a  baby 
sucking  a  pap-bottle,  or  even  to  a  boy — voracious  as 
boys'  appetites  are — the  same  sum  that  would  be  as- 
signed to  a  full-grown  man.  In  order  to  give  our  dis- 
tribution even  the  semblance  of  rationality  the  shares 
must  be  graduated  according  to  the  requirements  of 
age  and  sex." 

To  meet  this  objection  Mr.  Mallock  thinks  : 
"We  cannot  go  far  wrong  if  we  take  for  our  guide 
the  amount  of  food  which  scientific  authorities  tell  us 
is  required  respectively  by  men,  women  and  children, 
together  with  the  average  proportion  which  actually 
obtains  at  present  both  between  their  respective  wages 
and  respective  costs  of  their  maintenance.  The 
result  which  we  arrive  at  from  these  sources  of  in- 
formation is  substantially  as  follows,  and  every  fresh 
inquiry  confirms  it  :  For  every  pound  which  is  re- 
quired or  received  by  a  man  fifteen  shillings  does  or 
should  go  to  a  woman,  ten  shillings  'to  a  boy,  nine 
shillings  to  a  girl  and  four  and  six  pence  to  an  infant." 


DISTRIBUTION    ILLUSTRATED.  115 

Mr.  Mallock  now  takes  the  family  as  the  proper 
unit,  estimating  the  average  at  four  and  a  half  for 
each  family,  and  the  number  of  families  in  the  United 
Kingdom  he  estimates  at  eight  and  a  half  millions.  A 
distribution  of  the  twelve  hundred  millions  of  gross 
income  would  therefore  give  to  each  family  ;£i4o;  but 
from  this  it  would  be  necessary  to  deduct  taxes  for 
national  expenditures,  which  is  estimated  at  ;^i6  per 
family.  This  would  give  to  each  family  a  net  income 
of  ;^i26,  or  the  equivalent  of  $613.72,  at  $4.87  for  each 
pound  sterling.  Under  the  apportionment  before 
stated  each  man  would  thus  receive  ;^5o,  or  S243.50 
per  annum;  each  woman  ;^36,  or  $175.32;  the  youth 
;^25  pounds,  or  $121.75;  the  girl  ;^24,  or  $116.88; 
while  the  one-half  would  receive  ;^5,  or  $24.35. 

Mr.  Mallock's  next  calculation  is  to  show  what  this 
distribution  of  the  whole  wealth  of  the  country  would 
yield  weekly  to  the  entire  population,  and  the  result  is 
that  every  adult  male  would  receive  about  22s.,  or 
$5.36  per  week;  every  adult  female  about  i6s.,  or 
$3.90;  "but,"  adds  Mr.  Mallock,  "a  bachelor  who  is 
earning  the  former  sum  now  or  an  unmarried  woman 
who  is  earning  the  latter  would  neither  of  them,  under 
any  scheme  of  equal  distribution  conceivable,  come  in 
for  a  penny  of  the  plunder  taken  from  the  rich.  They 
are  already  receiving  all  that  on  principles  of  equality 
they  could  claim." 

Mr.  Mallock's  interesting  calculation  is  worked  out 
elaboratelv  and  should  be  read  by  everyone  interested 
in  the  subject  under  consideration.  A  chapter  of  this 
kind  which  deals  practically  with  a  question  so  pecu- 
liarly attractive  to  the  masses  of  the  people  and  which 


ii6        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

is  used  with  so  much  effect  by  labor  agitators  is  worth 
a  volume  of  the  superficial  speeches  of  socialistic  ora- 
tors or  of  the  Utopian  romances  of  the  day.  The 
striking  feature  of  the  calculation  is  in  the  mathemat- 
ical proof  that  the  entire  income  of  a  nation  which 
could  be  made  available  for  distribution  among  the 
people  upon  terms  of  exact  equality,  or  upon  terms 
which  would  seem  more  in  accordance  with  just  con- 
siderations, could  not  be  made  to  yield  to  the  major- 
ity of  the  working  classes  any  more  than  they  now 
receive,  while  a  very  large  number  would  be  obliged 
to  pay  over  a  surplus  from  their  present  earnings. 
This  point  will  doubtless  be  understood  by  most  of 
my  readers ;  but  to  make  the  matter  perfectly  clear 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  aggregate  income 
of  the  nation  embraces  the  entire  earnings  of  all 
classes,  as  well  as  the  rentals  and  profits  of  all  estates 
and  industrial  works  and  of  all  profits  in  trade.  From 
this  is  deducted  the  expenses  of  government,  which 
is  represented  in  taxation.  It  follows,  therefore,  in 
the  equal  distribution,  that  all  who  now  earn  or  re- 
ceive more  than  the  share  allotted  in  the  distribution 
would  be  obliged  to  surrender  that  surplus.  Thus  if 
the  allotment  to  each  individual  was  $600,  about  the 
amount  allowed  to  families,  and  the  individual  actu- 
ally earned  $900,  he  or  she  would  be  obliged  to  sur- 
render $300  of  that  sum  to  make  up  the  deficiency  of 
others.  In  this  way  he  would  be  contributing  to  the 
support  of  those  who  could  not  or  did  not  earn  the 
sum  given  as  the  average  amount  available  for  distri- 
bution. The  competent  workman  might  not  object  to 
the  contribution  if  it  seemed  necessary  to  relieve  the 


DISTRIBUTION    ILLUSTRATED.  117 

unfortunates  of  the  world,  but  if  his  superior  earning 
capacity  was  to  be  devoted  to  support  the  idle,  disso- 
lute or  vicious,  he  might  possibly  object  to  such  an 
appropriation  of  his  talents  and  industry.  Therefore, 
Mr.  Mallock's  view  of  the  matter  is  entirely  correct 
when  he  says  : 

"  But  an  equality  of  this  kind,  from  a  practical 
point  of  view,  is  worth  considering  only  as  a  means  of 
reducing  it  to  an  absurdity.  Even  were  it  established 
to-morrow,  it  could  not  be  maintained  for  a  month, 
owing  to  the  difificulty  that  would  arise  in  connection 
with  the  question  of  children  ;  as  unless  a  state  offi- 
cial checked  the  weekly  bills  of  every  parent,  parents 
inevitably  would  save  out  of  their  children's  allow- 
ances ;  and  those  with  many  children  would  be  very 
soon  founding  fortunes.  And  again  it  is  obvious  that 
different  kinds  of  occupation  require  from  those  en- 
gaged in  them  unequal  expenditures ;  so  that  the 
inevitable  inequality  of  needs  would  make  pecuniary 
equality  impossible.  Indeed  every  practical  man  in 
our  own  country  owns  this,  however  extreme  his  views; 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  amounts  which  have  been  sug- 
gested by  the  leaders  of  the  labor  party  as  a  fit  salary 
for  a  paid  member  of  parliament.  These  amounts 
vary  from  three  hundred  pounds  a  year  to  four  hun- 
dred pounds  ;  so  that  the  unmarried  member  of  par- 
liament, in  the  opinion  of  our  most  thorough  going 
democrats,  deserves  an  income  from  six  to  eight  times 
as  great  as  the  utmost  income  possible  for  the  ordi- 
nary unmarried  man.  And  there  are  many  occupa- 
tions which  will,  if  this  be  admitted,  deserve  to  be 
paid  on  the  same  or  on  even  a  higher  scale." 


Ii8        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

The  distribution  of  income  as  stated  by  Mr.  Mal- 
lock  in  the  first  proposition,  it  will  be  observed,  is 
that  which  would  generally  be  adopted  by  anyone 
wishing  to  apply  the  principle  of  equal  distribution 
according  to  the  total  amount  of  income  and  the  total 
of  population  ;  but  it  is  quite  evident  that  this  divi- 
sion which  would  embrace  the  unproductive  classes, 
such  as  children  of  tender  age,  the  aged  and  infirm,  as 
well  as  the  indolent  and  dissolute,  will  be  dismissed  at 
once  as  not  only  unjust  but  impracticable,  for  it 
would  put  upon  a  common  level  all  humanity  without 
regard  to  age,  sex  or  condition.  This,  it  will  be  ad- 
mitted, I  am  sure,  would  be  intolerable.  Therefore 
the  method  of  distributing  by  families,  as  adopted  by 
Mr.  Mallock,  is  probably  the  best  way  of  applying  the 
principle  of  distribution.  But  even  under  that 
method,  as  I  have  tried  to  show,  the  results  would  be 
acceptable  to  no  one,  and  least  of  all  to  the  skilled 
workingmen  who  are  the  largest  wage-earners. 

The  calculation  made  by  Mr.  Mallock  for  Great 
Britain  can  be  easily  worked  out  in  this  country, 
although,  perhaps,  with  less  accuracy  as  to  the  figures, 
as  the  income  tax  of  Great  Britain  furnishes  trustwor- 
thy statistics,  as  officially  compiled.  After  the  income 
tax  becomes  operative  in  the  United  States  we  shall 
have  a  basis  of  calculation,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  advocates  of  "paternalism"  or  a  general  distribu- 
tion of  property  will  work  out  the  problem  in  the 
same  practical  way  as  Mr.  Mallock  has  adopted  for 
his  application  of  the  income  of  Great  Britain.  One 
thing  we  may  conclude,  I  think,  with  reasonable  cer- 
tainty, and  that  is,  that   under  any  system  of  distribu- 


DISTRIBUTION    ILLUSTRATED.  119 

tion  our  labor  leaders,  or  our  "paternalism"  writers 
may  propose,  the  first  to  object  will  be  the  best  men 
of  the  working  classes,  who  will  be  called  upon  to  sur- 
render the  advantage  which  their  own  ability  has 
secured  over  those  who  are  naturally  less  competent, 
or  who  are  unable  to  earn  average  wages  on  account 
of  indolence  or  bad  habits.  Fancy  the  scorn  of  the 
capable  engineer  or  fireman,  conductor,  trainmaster, 
telegrapher,  etc.,  of  a  railway  company,  earning  say 
from  $800  to  $1,200  per  annum,  being  called  upon  to 
surrender  S600  or  $400  in  each  year  to  even  up  in- 
comes with  men  having  large  families,  or  with  men  of 
inferior  capacity,  or  bad  habits  !  Or  carry  the  method 
into  all  industries  and  all  pursuits  in  the  country  and 
imagine  the  placidity  with  which  the  proposition  will 
be  received  by  the  men  who  have  the  most  influence 
among  workingmen,  and  who  are,  in  fact,  their  great 
source  of  strength. 

We  may  safely  challenge  the  socialists  to  work  out 
this  problem,  but  unless  they  are  willing  to  do  it,  they 
should  have  no  influence  upon  public  opinion,  what- 
ever. On  the  other  hand,  if  they  can  prove  such 
writers  as  Mr.  Mallock  wrong,  and  can  by  figures 
demonstrate  the  great  good  they  would  be  able  to 
accomplish,  their  arguments  would  have  great  force. 

But  the  socialistic  scheme  of  distribution  has  an- 
other feature  to  which  I  have  several  times  alluded, 
which  is  fatal  to  their  theories,  even  more  so  than  in 
the  impracticable  idea  of  the  distribution  of  property. 
This  is  displayed  in  the  sacrifice  of  individuality,  in 
the  overthrow  of  personal  independence  and  personal 
ambition.     If  there  is  any  single  element  in  the  com- 


120        RAILWAYS   AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

position  of  humanity,  which  contributes  to  the  prog- 
ress and  improvement  of  the  civilized  world,  it  is  in 
that  feeling  which  stimulates  the  individual  to  the 
highest  development  of  his  mental  and  physical  capac- 
ities, and  which  we  may  properly  call  ambition.  It  is 
the  keynote  of  human  exertion  ;  the  incentive  to  per- 
sonal effort  toward  superiority  in  the  various  pursuits 
of  life.  It  implies  in  its  proper  exercise  the  highest 
order  of  mental  development  and  the  display  of  the 
most  noble  attributes  of  man.  Deprive  a  community 
of  this  strong  inducement,  and  it  would  inevitably 
become  inert  and  unprogressive. 

Imagine  the  effect  of  a  proclamation  which  should 
declare  that  henceforward,  as  man  was  born  free  and 
equal,  all  human  beings  will  be  under  the  protection 
of  the  government  and  treated  exactly  alike,  be  enti- 
tled to  a  pro  rata  share  of  the  net  income  of  the 
whole  nation,  either  as  individuals  or  by  family 
groups  as  the  unit  of  distribution.  What  would  be 
the  effect?  Men  who  lead  in  the  march  of  progress 
now  have  a  definite  object  in  view  ;  they  are  either 
seeking  comfort  and  independence  for  their  families 
or  wish  to  obtain  distinction  in  their  occupations  ; 
but  here  is  a  proposal  to  change  the  entire  plan  of 
life.  The  skilled  mechanic  would  no  longer  feel  the 
necessity  of  exercising  his  brain  upon  labor-saving 
devices  or  upon  ingenious  methods  of  making  life 
more  comfortable  or  more  safe,  expecting  the  reward 
of  a  successful  application  of  his  intelligence  ;  the  pro- 
fessional man  would  not  find  any  special  advantage 
in  acquiring  superiority,  and  the  whole  community 
would  at  once  be  transformed  into  an   endless  chain 


DISTRIBUTION    ILLUSTRATED.  I2l 

of  humdrum,  perfunctory  agents,  going  through 
routine  work  as  parts  of  a  great  machine  which  dis- 
tributes its  products  equally  to  the  genius  and  the 
dullard,  the  active  and  intelligent  and  the  indolent 
and  sluggish;  to  say  nothing  of  morals  and  habits. 

What  a  picture  of  human  degradation  the  proposi- 
tion presents  in  such  a  revolution  in  human  methods, 
where  the  faculties  which  are  inborn  or  which  are  de- 
veloped by  persevering  effort  are  ignored  in  the  plan 
of  forced  equality,  except  as  a  part  of  the  machinery 
which,  while  it  raises  the  lowly,  depresses  the  gifted 
until  they  occupy  the  same  level. 

If  there  is  any  system  of  human  slavery  under 
which  the  slaves  are  well  treated,  well  nourished  and 
well  sheltered,  which  is  or  can  be  more  demoralizing 
in  its  influence  upon  humanity,  or  which  can  more 
effectually  check  the  aspirations  of  intelligence,  destroy 
the  progressive  influences  of  civilization  and  stop  the 
advance  of  the  human  race,  I  am  not  acquainted  with 
it.  If  "paternalism,"  as  I  have  understood  it,  is  hot 
slavery  in  the  sense  of  robbing  man  of  the  free  use  of 
his  own  faculties,  first  by  taking  what  he  has  acquired, 
and  then  by  appropriating  the  fruits  of  his  labor, 
whether  mental  or  physical,  for  the  benefit  of  others 
through  the  agency  of  the  master,  which  in  this  case  is 
government,  it  certainly  is  not  freedom.  In  fact,  it  will 
be  found,  when  thoroughly  analyzed,  to  be  quite  as 
objectionable  as  any  serfage  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
Human  intelligence  revolts  at  such  projects  to  stifle 
man's  noblest  aspirations.  Under  such  treatment  broad 
intellects  will  become  lilliputian  in  dimensions  and  a 
cloud  of  degradation  will  settle  down  upon  humanity. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
SOCIALISM. 

The  practical  illustrations  given  in  the  previous 
chapter  must,  I  think,  satisfy  all  men  of  ordinary  in- 
telligence that  schemes  of  making  government  the 
agent  of  forcing  equal  conditions  in  life  are  as  idle  as 
they  are  impracticable ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  funda- 
mental injustice  of  such  wild  plans. 

Theoretically  we  are  born  free  and  equal  in  this 
country,  so  far  as  our  form  of  government  can  con- 
trol in  the  matter  ;  but  in  reality  men  and  women 
although  born  free  are  never  equal  physically  or  men- 
tally. Some  come  into  the  world  with  feeble  consti- 
tutions and  others  are  much  inferior  in  mental  cali- 
bre. It  is,  therefore,  a  fiction  of  the  imagination  to 
assume  an  equality  which  does  not  exist  and  which 
never  can  exist,  simply  because  the  creator  of  all 
things  has  decreed  otherwise.  That  is,  all  are  born 
free  but  the  moment  individual  faculties  begin  their 
influence,  each  one,  according  to  his  or  her  endow- 
ment in  that  respect,  begins  to  work  for  superiority 
and  attains  it  or  not  according  to  the  mental  and 
physical  conditions  of  the  individual. 

This  is  not  only  true,  but  it  is  the  only  tolerable 
condition  of  human  existence.  Competition  in  the 
various  occupations  of  life,  the  development  and 
growth  of  the  highest  and  best  qualities  of  human  in- 

122 


SOCIALISM.  123 

telligence,  are  indispensable  to  the  permanence,  sta- 
bility and  prosperity  of  communities.  The  only 
practical  method  available,  under  which  social  condi- 
tions can  be  improved,  is  to  make  the  competition 
fair  and  to  see  that  the  paths  are  equally  open  to  the 
competitors. 

I  lay  but  little  stress  upon  the  fact  that  great  in- 
equalities of  fortune  exist  in  this  country.  Suppose  a 
man  to  have  accumulated  or  to  have  inherited  one  of 
those  colossal  fortunes  which  carry  apparently  so' 
much  power  and  influence  to  the  possessor,  what 
great  advantage  has  he  over  the  man  who  has  a  fair 
competence?  In  the  first  place,  he  is  obliged  to  work 
constantly  in  the  care  and  employment  of  the  capital 
in  his  charge  and  this  capital  is  necessarily  in  use  in 
all  kinds  of  industry  and  in  every  species  of  enter- 
prise. It  cannot  remain  idle  and  the  owner  is  actu- 
ally employed  to  that  extent  in  providing  occupation 
for  thousands.  The  capital  itself  is  just  as  much  in 
use  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  as  it  could  be  were  it 
held  by  five  hundred  persons  instead  of  one.  Where 
then,  is  his  great  advantage  and  where  the  great  dis- 
advantage of  the  people?  A  man  can  live  in  greater 
luxury,  in  fine  houses,  and  in  relative  splendor,  in  a 
superficial  point  of  view,  but  even  in  the  indulgence 
of  these  superfluities  he  is  obliged  to  distribute  his 
wealth,  and  in  point  of  real  comfort  he  is  no  more 
favorably  situated  than  the  man  who  has  enough  to 
secure  moderate  home  comforts  for  himself  and  fam- 
ily. Luxury  is  neither  beneficial  to  real  happiness 
nor  to  health,  and  if  it  proves  detrimental  to  health, 
there  is  an  end  to  happiness.     Beyond   the  personal 


124        RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

luxuries,  to  which  I  have  referred,  what  possible  ad- 
vantage can  the  millionaire  possess  over  the  man  who 
can  provide  comfortably  for  himself  and  those  who 
are  dependent  upon  him?  If  he  lives  a  life  of  pleas- 
ure, he  distributes  diffusely  as  he  goes.  If  he  seeks 
to  accumulate  he  must  employ  his  money  in  the  in- 
dustries of  the  world,  and  it  serves  in  this  employ- 
ment exactly  as  it  would  if  owned  by  many  instead 
of  one. 

The  very  rich  man,  unless  a  practical  philanthro- 
pist, is  simply  the  slave  of  his  fortune,  if  he  seeks  to 
enlarge  it  or  even  to  keep  it  safely  and  moderately 
productive.  In  many  instances  where  large  fortunes 
have  been  wisely  administered,  the  owner  is  a  real 
benefactor  to  the  human  race  by  his  influence  in  pro- 
moting the  enterprise  and  industry  of  a  communitv, 
and  in  such  cases  it  is  open  to  reasonable  doubt 
whether  the  capital  would  serve  as  good  a  purpose  if 
held  by  several  hundred  instead  of  by  one. 

In  this  connection  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express  the 
opinion,  that  it  is  a  positive  disadvantage  to  a  young 
man  in  this  country  to  be  born  to  wealth,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  generally  an  advantage  to  be  born 
poor.  I  do  not  mean  by  the  word  "poor"  to  claim 
that  an  abject  or  miserable  condition  at  birth  is  de- 
sirable or  beneficial,  but  that  it  is  far  better  for  all 
young  men,  in  good  mental  and  physical  condition,  to 
begin  life  with  the  conviction  that  they  must  depend 
upon  themselves  alone  for  success.  A  young  man, 
therefore,  who  can  secure  a  fair  education,  and  in  se- 
curing it  with  difficulty  is  taught  the  necessity  of  self- 
culture,   self-exertion   and   self-reliance,   is    far    more 


SOCIALISM.  T25 

likely  to  succeed  in  this  world  than  one  who  has  been 
reared  in  luxury  and  ease,  and  who  has  been  made  to 
know  from  boyhood  that  he  will  succeed  to  wealth. 
In  the  former  case  the  young  man,  if  fairly  endowed 
with  intelligence,  will  be  stimulated  to  every  exertion 
and  will  generally  succeed,  while,  in  the  latter,  the 
chances  are  that  the  young  man  who  feels  that  he  is 
independent  will  lead  at  least  a  passive  life.  It  does 
not  necessarily  follow  that  the  young  man  of  inde- 
pendent means  will  be  idle  or  useless  in  the  world,  but 
the  difference  in  the  two  positions  is  enough  to  stimu- 
late to  great  effort  in  the  one  case  and  to  tempt  to  an 
easy  life  in  'the  other,  to  say  nothing  of  the  allure- 
ments of  a  life  of  pleasure  open  to  the  young  man  of 
fortune.  From  the  class  which  is  obliged  to  work  for 
success  come  a  large  proportion  of  the  men  who 
attain  distinction  in  life,  such  men  as  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  James  A.  Garfield,  who  from  humble  circum- 
stances elevated  themselves  to  the  highest  station  in 
the  people's  gift. 

In  no  other  country  in  the  world  are  the  paths  of 
distinction  so  open  to  the  men  of  persevering  energy, 
who  a*re  disposed  to  compete  for  success  in  whatever 
they  undertake,  and  nowhere  is  it  more  evident  that  in 
order  to  develop  his  best  faculties  man  needs  an  incen- 
tive to  prove  his  qualities  as  a  man.  If  it  is  in  him 
to  develop  mental  strength  and  superiority  it  will  ap- 
pear under  the  stress  of  necessity,  whereas  without 
the  incentive  the  individual  might  move  through  the 
world  unnoticed  and  unknown. 

I  think  there  can  be  little  or  no  difference  of  opin- 
ion on  this  point  of   the  relative  exertions   of  a  poor 


126        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

young  man  and  one  who  feels  well  provided  for  with- 
out special  effort  on  his  part,  and  if  this  is  true  why 
should  we  envy  those  who  in  the  possession  of  wealth 
are  led  into  the  error  of  idle  and  useless  lives?  But 
even  admitting  all  that  has  been  urged  in  favor  of  the 
advantages  of  comparative  poverty,  and  believing 
that  the  majority  of  our  successful  men  come  from 
the  ranks  of  those  who  are  compelled  to  work  out 
their  own  destinies,  I  would  not  change  the  conditions 
of  society  an  iota  in  the  direction  of  st*ifling  proper 
ambition  to  acquire  wealth  and  distinction.  The 
stimulus  to  effort  must  remain,  or,  as  under  the  dead- 
ening influence  of  "  paternalism,"  men  would  sink 
beneath  it  to  the  depths  of  apathetic  irresponsibility. 
It  would  be  like  taking  the  element  of  hope  from  our 
lives. 

In  a  country  where  there  are  no  laws  of  primo- 
geniture or  entail  these  great  inequalities  of  fortune 
naturally  regulate  themselves  in  two  or  three  genera- 
tions; first,  in  distribution  or  division  by  inheritance, 
and  second,  by  the  different  methods,  habits  of  life  or 
tastes  of  successive  generations  which  come  into  pos- 
session. Then,  again,  the  desire  to  accumulate  gen- 
erally ceases,  and  the  income  finds  its  way  to  the  peo- 
ple more  liberally.  Looking  at  the  subject  in  its 
various  aspects,  I  cannot  see  the  dangers  which  many 
think  they  discover  in  the  accumulation  of  large 
fortunes  in  this  country.  If  a  man  simply  hoards  his 
gain  as  a  miser  adds  to  his  secret  stores,  keeping  his 
wealth  from  general  employment,  he  is  a  useless  mem- 
ber of  the  community,  and  his  accumulation  is  injur- 
ious to  the  extent  he  is  able  to  withdraw  capital  from 


SOCIALISM.  127 

active  employment,  but  such  cases  are  rare  and  the 
actors  are  victims  of  a  mania  akin  to  insanity.  The 
accumulations  of  misers  who  secrete  their  gains  are 
not,  therefore,  under  discussion,  because  their  methods 
lack  common  sense  and  can  never  prevail  to  any  ap- 
preciable extent.  As  a  rule,  men  of  wealth  must  always 
keep  their  capital  employed,  and  in  this  employment 
it  contributes  to  the  support  of  the  whole  community 
just  as  certainly  as  if  it  were  held  by  many  instead  of 
one. 

Returning  to  the  most  offensive  forms  of  socialism, 
as  illustrated  by  anarchists  and  nihilists,  I  feel  quite 
sure  that  their  doctrines  would  be  instantly  repudiated 
by  a  vast  majority  of  those  who  favor  some  of  the  lead- 
ing features  of  socialism,  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact 
that  professed  anarchists  often  lead  in  the  socialistic 
ranks  and  generally  claim  affiliation  with  that  body. 
We  can  be  all  the  more  confident  that  socialism  will 
deny  any  connection  with  anarchism,  because  all  men 
of  intelligence  must  conclude  that  those  who  advocate 
murder,  as  a  method  of  improving  the  social  status  of 
the  people,  are  necessarily  obstacles  to  progress.  The 
idea  that  terror  can  accomplish  any  change  in  social 
matters  which  would  be  considered  a  gain  to  human- 
ity is  too  absurd  for  discussion.  The  effect  of  violence 
and  outrage  is  just  the  reverse.  If  danger  to  life  is 
threatened,  if  the  security  of  property  is  attacked,  or 
if  mob  rule  is  substituted  for  law  and  order,  the  sure 
result  in  either  case  is  the  stern  and  rigid  repression 
of  an  evil  which  strikes  at  the  foundations  of  govern- 
ment. If  we  search  historv  for  examples,  we  find  that 
murder,  violence  and  destruction  are  always  followed 


128        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

by  a  reaction  which  sweeps  the  invaders  of  law  and 
order  from  existence  and  reestablishes  government  on 
a  stronger  basis  than  before,  even  if  the  change  in- 
volves a  restriction  of  the  popular  liberties  enjoyed 
before  the  outbreak. 

Assuming  that  nihilism  aims  at  the  destruction  of 
autocratic  government  in  Russia,  we  may  ask  what 
advantage  it  has  gained  in  that  direction  by  the  per- 
petration of  murder  and  of  its  many  outrages  so  de- 
structive to  the  security  of  life  and  property?  Alex- 
ander II.  fell  under  nihilistic  bombs,  after  he  had 
emancipated  the  serfs  and  while  disposed  to  extend 
the  liberties  of  the  people.  Was.  the  assassination  of 
a  liberally  disposed  monarch  of  this  character  a  gain 
to  the  people  of  Russia?  Do  we  not  know  that  the 
effect  was  just  the  reverse?  If  the  voluntary  adop- 
tion of  more  liberal  measures  on  the  part  of  an  abso- 
lute government  is  followed  by  conspiracy  and  mur- 
der, what  can  be  more  certain  than  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  repression  in  a  more  offensive  way  ?  And  if 
all  overtures  in  the  direction  of  a  more  liberal  gov- 
ernment and  greater  popular  freedom  are  met  by 
combinations  of  murderous  thugs,  which  serve  to  keep 
society  in  terror  or  anxiety,  is  it  not  a  natural  conse- 
quence that  the  great  body  of  the  people,  in  which 
the  real  power  lies,  will  seek  the  protection  of  a 
stronger  and  more  centralized  government  ?  One  of 
the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  growth  of  popular  gov- 
ernment and  to  the  preservation  of  peace  in  Europe 
is  the  maintenance  of  immense  standing  armies  at  the 
expense  of  the  people.  Is  it  reasonable  to  expect  that 
such  organizations  will  be   abandoned   by  a  govern- 


SOCIALISM.  129 

ment,  or  even  by  its  people,  while  assassination  and 
mob  violence  threaten  to  destroy  security  ? 

It  is  safe  to  assert  that  every  act  of  violence  perpe- 
trated by  the  fanatics  of  nihilism  and  anarchism  has 
contributed  to  the  postponement  of  an  extension  of 
the  liberties  of  the  people.  So  far  as  force  has  been 
employed  to  carry  out  pretended  or  even  real  reforms 
they  have  not  only  been  utter  failures,  but,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  they  have  greatly  retarded  social  progress 
and  have  virtually  checked  the  introduction  and  per- 
fection of  enlightened  and  liberal  measures  of  reform. 

It  is  strange  that  the  lessons  of  recorded  history, 
often  repeated,  with  all  the  consequences  of  such  mad 
experiments,  should  not  teach  men  of  even  limited 
education  the  folly  of  schemes  which  contemplate 
either  the  suppression  of  independence  in  man,  or 
utter  extinction  of  his  progressive  intelligence  and 
ambition,  or  the  destruction  of  law  and  order  and  the 
substitution  of  mob  violence  and  robbery.  It  is  not 
strange,  however,  to  find  that  large  bodies  of  the  peo- 
ple who  do  not  know  that  the  fallacies  of  extreme 
socialism  have  been  repeatedly  exposed  by  actual  trial, 
are  constantly  being  deluded  by  the  specious  reason- 
ing and  tempting  propositions  of  crafty  and  designing 
men.  It  is  an  alluring  picture  to  the  sons  of  toil, 
and  to  those  who  suffer  the  hardships  of  poverty,  to 
draw  the  outlines  of  a  government  which  is  to  take 
supreme  charge  of  all  the  machinery  of  man's  daily 
life,  gather  into  its  paternal  hands  all  the  goods  and 
all  the  industries  of  the  people,  regulate  their  employ- 
ments, provide  for  their  sustenance,  furnish  their 
habitations  and  minister  to  their  enjoyments.     If  it 

9 


130        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

were  necessary  to  convince  inquiring  minds  by  citing 
examples  in  history,  many  would  be  astonished  to 
find  that  socialism  of  the  present  day  has  developed 
little  that  is  new  in  theory  or  practice.  Stretching 
through  a  period  of  nearly  two  thousand  years,  begin- 
ning at  a  date  when  history  ceases  to  be  merely  tradi- 
tional, or,  at  least,  of  doubtful  authenticity,  we  meet 
with  numerous  experiments,  sometimes  in  forms  of 
government,  from  monarchical  to  republican,  and 
from  absolute  to  limited  authority,  and  sometimes  in 
the  structure  of  society.  Agrarian  schemes  for  the 
distribution  of  land,  confiscation  of  treasure  and 
church  property  for  the  benefit  of  the  state,  persecu- 
tion and  legalized  robbery  of  the  Jews,  cheating 
people  by  debasement  of  the  current  coin,  ruinous 
taxation  to  destroy  one  interest  for  the  benefit  of 
another,  revolution  and  reform  carried  through  with 
cruelty,  oppression  and  bloodshed,  ending  in  despot- 
ism and  misery.  "  Liberty,  equality  and  fraternity," 
as  understood  by  the  mob  and  carried  out  in  the  mur- 
der of  countless  thousands  of  innocent  human  beings, 
regardless  of  age  or  sex  —  all  these  crimes  which  dot 
the  pages  of  history  from  the  Christian  era  to  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  have  been  perpetrated  by 
men  under  the  banner  of  progress  and  reform,  and 
they  prove  in  every  instance  the  wickedness  and  folly 
of  movements  to  change  the  social  status  which  are 
founded  upon  selfishness  and  injustice.  The  under- 
lying principle  in  a  large  majority  of  these  schemes 
was  an  improvement  in  the  moral  and  social  condition 
of  the  people ;  sometimes  in  the  enforcement  of 
religious  dogma,  sometimes  to  remove  the  inequalities 


SOCIALISM.  13' 

of  fortune  and  sometimes  upon  the  plea  of  enlarging 
the  freedom  of  the  human  race;  but  always  upon  some 
pretence  of  improvement  which  would  contribute  to 
the  relief  and  benefit  of  the  oppressed  and  suffering 
classes.  Thus  in  the  instigation  of  such  movements 
popular  support  was  secured  by  the  promise  of 
changes  in  the  social  status  which  would  benefit  the 
poor  and  oppressed  by  depriving  the  ruling  classes  of 
power  and  stripping  them  of  wealth.  The  tempta- 
tions offered  by  such  schemes  have  often  proved  irre- 
sistible to  people  who  are  prone  to  attribute  their 
poverty  and  suffering  to  the  imperfections  of  social 
organization.  In  this  way  people  have  been  led  to 
measures  of  extreme  cruelty  and  injustice,  in  the 
belief  that  they  were  carrying  out  desirable  reforms, 
while  utterly  blind  to  the  consequences  of  wrongs 
which,  if  perpetuated,  would  destroy  peace  and  good 
will  throughout  the  civilized  world.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  understand  how  large  numbers  of  the  people  are 
influenced  to  the  commission  of  acts  equivalent  to 
robbery  and  assassination  when  the  arguments  of 
extreme  socialism  are  presented  to  suffering  humanity 
in  the  form  of  a  remedy  for  recognized  evils,  and  it  is 
quite  as  comprehensible  that  social  reformers  are  able 
to  persuade  themselves  and  their  followers  that  they 
are  working  in  a  good  cause  as  it  is  to  conceive  of  the 
existence  of  men  who  have  believed  it  to  be  their  con- 
scientious duty  to  enforce  religious  creeds  and  church 
dogmas  by  the  burning  and  torture  of  innocent  human 
beings;  and  yet  we  can  account  in  no  other  way  for 
the  atrocious  acts  of  religious  bigots.  The  shocking 
cruelties  of  the  Inquisition,  the  narrow-minded  intol- 


•  3^        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

crance  of  Philip  the  Second  and  his  instrument,  Alva; 
the  persecution  of  Protestants  in  France  and  England 
and  the  relentless  measures,  later  on,  in  England 
against  Catholics  —  all  of  these  numberless  examples 
of  inhumanity  have  been  furnished  to  the  world  by 
zealots  in  the  cause  of  religion,  while  in  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Jews  and  Quakers  we  may  trace  the  dom- 
inating influence  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  even 
down  to  modern  times,  and  give  to  an  incredible  su- 
perstition the  responsibility  of  hanging  for  witch- 
craft, even  in  New  England,  the  poor,  innocent  victims 
of  a  deluded  and  pitiless  community.  What  can  be 
more  shocking  to  human  sentiment  in  this  enlight- 
ened age  than  to  read  of  the  pious  conclusions  of  the 
reverend  Puritan  divines  as  to  the  guilt  and  punish- 
ment of  these  unfortunate  creatures,  hurried  thus 
cruelly  and  ignominiously  out  of  the  world,  with  prayer 
and  thanksgiving  in  the  side  scenes? 

Such  acts  can  only  be  accounted  for  satisfactorily 
upon  the  theory  of  a  conscientious  belief  in  the  right- 
eousness of  their  acts  and  convictions  of  duty.  Any 
other  conclusion  would  make  the  actors  in  these  sad 
historical  tragedies  monsters  of  wickedness  and 
cruelty.  Shocking  and  revolting,  therefore,  as  these 
deplorable  events  appear  to  us  in  the  light  of  nine- 
teenth century  civilization,  it  is  necessary  to  give  full 
weight  to  the  influences  of  the  period  and  to  the  mo- 
tives which  governed  the  leaders  of  public  opinion 
and  the  authorities  which  gave  it  expression. 

These  references  to  the  dark  pages  of  history  are 
not  made  for  the  purpose  of  claiming  them  as  the 
consequences  of  socialistic  ideas  or  of  holding  social- 


SOCIALISM.  133 

ism  responsible  for  the  commission  of  such  terrible 
enormities,  but  simply  to  show  to  what  fearful  ex- 
tremes men  sometimes  go  in  trying  to  force  their 
own  convictions  upon  others.  They  are  striking 
illustrations  of  the  exercise  of  blind  and  ignorant  force 
and  of  the  utter  impossibility  of  obtaining  permanent 
success  in  establishing  alleged  reforms  by  unjust 
methods  and  by  the  temporary  control  of  power.  Un- 
der such  conditions  the  enthusiasm  of  martyrs  meets 
successfully  measures  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  and 
in  the  end  justice  rules.  But  socialism  represents 
ideas  of  reform  and  improvement  in  the  conditions  of 
society,  and  it  would  enforce  the  changes  considered 
necessary  to  accomplish  this  purpose  by  legislation 
which  would  benefit  one  class  at  the  expense  of  an- 
other and  invade  property  rights  essential  to  the  lib- 
erty and  happiness  of  the  people.  This  can  only  be 
done  by  breaking  the  unwritten  contract  which  the 
theory  of  a  popular  government  implies,  and  estab- 
lishing in  its  place  partial  and  oppressive  laws  which 
must  overthrow  the  fundamental  principles  of  our 
declaration  of  independence  and  violate  the  guaran- 
tees of  the  constitution.  In  this  point  of  view  the 
forced  adoption  of  the  measures  proposed  by  extreme 
socialists  would  resemble  many  of  the  historical 
examples  given,  not  only  in  the  confiscation  of 
property,  but  in  suppressing  the  independence  of 
individuals  in  thought  or  action — an  independence 
heretofore  held  sacred  under  mutually  beneficial  regu- 
lations. The  superiority  of  our  democratic  form  of 
government  is  supposed  to  consist  in  its  guarantee 
of  equal   liberty   and   equal   protection,    and    it    was 


134        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

adopted  by  a  people  which  had  fled  from  tyranny, 
bigotry  and  intolerance,  and  although  the  relics  of 
superstition  were  found  in  the  new  world,  even  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  much  intolerance  prevailed 
among  those  who  were  fresh  from  the  fatherland, 
these  shadows  upon  the  intelligence  and  character  of 
the  stern,  brave  race  of  Puritans  were  speedily  re- 
moved as  soon  as  the  influence  of  old  world  prejudice 
•and  fanaticism  lost  its  sway. 

The  moral  to  be  drawn  from  these  precedents  in 
history  is  that  all  social  laws  which  are  unjust  and 
partial  in  their  operation  must  necessarily  fail,  under 
whatever  pretext  they  may  be  established.  Temporary 
success  in  such  cases,  secured  by  the  action  of  a  ma- 
jority, is  always  delusive,  because  the  just  principles 
violated  are  essential  to  the  tranquillity,  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

Thus,  applying  to  socialism  the  theory  of  an  im- 
plied compact  which  gives  to  each  individual  member 
of  a  community  certain  inalienable  rights,  the  body 
politic  must  sacredly  guard  those  rights  or  decide 
upon  tyrannical  measures  which  will  carry  it  ultimate- 
ly to  destruction.  And  when,  in  disregard  of  the 
social  compact,  one  class  of  the  community  seeks  its 
own  aggrandizement  or  to  increase  its  own  wealth  at 
the  cost,  peril  or  disadvantage  of  another,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  letter  or  spirit  of  the  equitable  principles 
which  governed  the  original  organization,  the  seeds 
of  revolution  will  have  been  planted  and  the  harvest 
of  retribution  will  be  only  a  question  of  time. 


CHAPTER    X. 

SOCIALISM   CONTINUED. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  I  have  tried  to  show 
fairly,  and  I  trust  successfully,  that  force,  whether  ap- 
plied in  the  atrocious  methods  of  nihilism  or  anar- 
chism, or  in  the  milder  but  equally  unjust  measures 
proposed  by  the  more  reasonable  class  of  socialists 
through  tyrannical  legislation,  is  utterly  inadequate  to 
solve  the  problem  of  social  inequality.  It  would  prob- 
ably require  less  argument  than  I  have  used  to  secure 
almost  universal  assent  to  condemnation  of  force  in 
its  murderous  form,  but  to  gain  the  support  of  the 
more  reasonable  and  more  intelligent  in  the  ranks  of 
socialism,  I  have  endeavored  to  prove  in  a  practical 
way  the  fallacies  of  schemes  which  contemplate  the 
employment  of  force  through  legislative  action, 
always  available  in  a  government  of  the  people,  but 
always  dangerous  to  that  government,  if  it  ignores  the 
fundamental  principle  of  just  equality  essential  to  its 
permanent  existence.  The  structure  of  a  republican 
or  democratic  government  rests  upon  a  social  com- 
pact which  implies,  if  it  does  not  actually  guarantee 
to  every  individual,  exactly  the  same  rights  and  priv- 
ileges, under  that  government,  which  any  other  indi- 
vidual possesses,  and  only  in  the  careful  preservation 
of  these  rights  and  privileges  can  popular  govern- 
ment endure.  It  is  always  in  the  power  of  the  ma- 
135 


13^        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

jorily,  through  their  representatives  in  congress,  to 
enact  laws,  even  unjust  and  oppressive  laws,  and  they 
may  be  obeyed  by  a  law-abiding  comiHunity;  but 
such  laws  provoke  immediate  opposition  and  are  sure 
of  being  repealed  as  soon  as  they  are  fairly  under- 
stood. Meantime,  however,  they  work  an  incalculable 
amount  of  mischief,  froin  the  effects  of  which  recov- 
ery is  necessarily  slow. 

In  view  of  the  very  injurious  effects  of  hasty  legis- 
lation, it  is  the  duty  of  the  people,  and  of  their  repre- 
sentatives in  congress  or  in  state  legislatures,  to  exam- 
ine with  great  care  propositions  which  involve  radical 
changes  in  the  business  methods  or  social  conditions 
of  the  country.  Without  taking  sides  upon  the  tariff 
question,  for  example,  what  can  be  more  obviously 
injurious  than  frequent  and  radical  changes  in  the 
policy  which  is  to  have  an  important  influence  on  the 
business  of  manufacturers  and  importers?  Admitting 
many  imperfections  in  the  McKinley  tariff,  would  it 
not  have  been  far  more  judicious  to  have  brought 
about  gradual  changes  by  amendment,  than  to  have 
suddenly  reversed  the  whole  system  of  import  duties? 
And  now  that  congress  has  adopted  a  new  law,  would 
it  not  be  infinitely  wiser  and  better  for  the  country  to 
give  the  law  a  fair  trial  for  a  few  years  before  agitat- 
ing its  complete  overthrow?  If  palpably  injurious  in 
some  respects,  proved  to  be  so  under  trial,  would  it 
not  be  more  intelligent  to  seek  the  remedy  in  some 
amendment  rather  than  in  a  sweeping  change?  And 
so  in  regard  to  the  currency,  or  to  important  financial 
measures,  we  have  always  found  that  hasty  legislation 
brings  great  evils  in  its  train,  which  might  have  been 


SOCIALISM   CONTINUED.  i37 

avoided  if  the  subject  had  been  thoroughly  and  care- 
fully examined. 

The  danger  of  hasty  legislation  is  one  of  the  great- 
est to  which  popular  government  can  be  subjected. 
Numerical  majorities  are  often  secured  by  political 
combinations  and  manipulation  and  questions  are 
thus  decided  which,  before  adoption,  should  have  had 
the  most  thorough  examination  and  study.  The  con- 
sequence is  an  infinite  deal  of  trouble  which  proves 
the  folly  of  the  legislation,  and  generally  insures  its 
repeal,  but  not  until  after  it  has  cost  the  community 
dearly  in  its  mischievous  effects.  In  popular  govern- 
ment the  tendency  is  also  to  superfluous  legislation, 
often  displayed  in  an  attempt  to  regulate  commercial 
affairs  which  are  governed  by  the  unwritten  laws  of 
trade  and  which  are  utterly  beyond  the  control  of  leg- 
islation. In  all  such  cases  legislation  may  destroy,  but 
it  can  neither  regulate  nor  control,  except  by  this  de- 
struction. This  assertion  finds  its  justification  in 
the  operation  of  sumptuary  laws  which  attempt  to 
change  methods  of  life  which  people  consider  in  the 
light  of  attacks  upon  personal  liberty.  Such  laws,  if 
they  interfere  with  personal  habits,  even  if  intended 
to  improve  the  social  condition  of  man,  are  always 
enforced  with  great  difficulty,  and  such  enforcement  is 
but  temporary.  Sixty  years  since,  smoking  in  the 
streets  of  Boston  was  forbidden  by  law,  but  five  or 
eight  years  later  it  became  obsolete,  simply  because 
public  opinion  condemned  it  as  something  with  which 
legislation  had  nothing  to  do.  It  is  universally  ad- 
mitted that  intemperance  is  a  great  evil  and  that 
everything  practicable  should  be  done  to  diminish  it, 


13^        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

but  many  contend  that  no  progress  toward  reform,  in 
this  regard,  has  ever  been  accomplished  by  legislation 
of  a  prohibitory  character.  The  regulation  of  sale  is 
doubtless  necessary,  but  all  attempts  to  deprive  one 
class  of  the  privileges  granted  to  another  meet  with 
determined  resistance.  The  usury  law  is  a  good  illus- 
tration of  the  folly  of  legislation  which  seeks  to  inter- 
fere with  the  natural  laws  of  trade.  For  many  years 
it  remained  a  dead  letter  in  New  York  State,  and,  until 
its  repeal  some  ten  or  twelve  years  since,  it  served  to 
hold  up  the  ignorant  and  inexperienced  members  of 
the  legislature  from  the  "Wayback"  districts  as  the 
laughing  stock  of  the  country. 

All  experience  proves  that  popular  government,  to 
be  permanent,  must  carefully  guard  equal  freedom  and 
equally  fair  treatment  of  all  its  citizens,  and  that 
whenever  these  fundamental  principles  are  violated, 
upon  whatever  pretense,  individual  freedom,  which 
popular  government  was  intended  to  secure,  is  seri- 
ously threatened  and  the  government  itself  is  in 
danger. 

The  schemes  of  socialists  which  invoke  legislation, 
almost  invariably  seek  an  advantage  for  one  class  to 
the  detriment  of  another.  This  is  a  clear  invasion  of 
rights  guaranteed  in  our  form  of  government  and  in 
the  constitution.  The  injustice  of  such  measures 
should  be  sufficient  to  condemn  them,  but,  if  not,  the 
practical  operation  of  such  laws  will  generally  dem- 
onstrate their  folly  and  the  impossibility  of  enforcing 
them.  Popular  government  is  the  result  of  a  struggle 
against  tyranny  and  oppression  and  it  cannot  be  made 
the  instrument  of  restricting  individual  liberty,  or  of 


SOCIALISM   CONTINUED.        .  i39 

destroying  those  rights  which  are  vital  to  the  stability 
of  the  social  compact  which  binds  the  people  together 
in  the  support  of  true  republican  government. 

I  have  in  a  previous  chapter  assumed  that  the  great 
body  of  socialists  —  certainly  the  most  influential  part 
of  them  —  would  repudiate  the  schemes  and  acts  of 
anarchists,  but  it  is  not  the  less  true  that  this  violent 
and  offensive  element  claims  alliance,  if  not  identity, 
with  socialism.  A  proof  of  this  is  furnished  in  the 
book  of  Prince  Kropotkine,  recently  published  in  Paris 
under  the  title  of  "La  Conquete  du  Pain."  Kropot- 
kine, as  one  of  the  high  priests  of  anarchism,  seems  to 
regard  the  anarchists  as  a  part,  and  evidently  an 
important  part,  of  the  socialistic  body  in  France,  if 
not  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  he  discusses 
socialistic  matters  from  the  anarchist  standpoint  with 
as  much  complacency  and  assurance  as  if  addressing 
his  brethren  of  the  society,  as  well  as  people  outside 
of  that  organization.  In  the  discussion  of  socialism, 
nothing  is  more  useful  to  the  world  at  large  than  a 
presentation  of  their  schemes  for  analysis.  If  such 
theories  of  life  will  bear  the  searching  light  of  prac- 
tical common  sense,  they  may  accomplish  good  by 
indicating  methods  of  improving  the  social  condition 
of  the  civilized  world,  which,  in  the  course  of  time, 
would  be  gladly  adopted;  but  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  schemes  are  clearly  impracticable,  visionary  and 
absurd,  a  real  service  will  have  been  performed  in 
stripping  off  disguise  and  in  keeping  well-meaning 
men  from  the  dangerous  associations  to  which  they 
are  invited. 

Prince  Kropotkine  is  an  avowed  anarchist,  but  he 


140        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

is  careful  to  avoid  any  reference  lo  the  programme  of 
violence  and  assassination  which  the  more  active 
members  of  his  society  not  only  advocate  but  put 
into  practical  ojjcration.  It  would  have  been  inter- 
esting to  know  his  thoughts  upon  this  subject,  but  as 
he  does  not  disavow  the  actions  of  his  more  energetic 
associates,  the  reader  is  left  to  infer  that  he  does  not 
disapprove  of  any  violent  method  which  may  aid  in 
bringing  about  the  social  revolution  which  he  thinks 
is  near  at  hand. 

Kropotkine  tells  us,  at  the  beginning  of  his  book,  of 
the  great  progress  made  by  humanity  during  the  many 
thousands  of  years  since  man  lived  by  hunting,  dwell- 
ing in  caves  and  leaving  to  his  heirs  only  such  shelter 
and  the  stone  utensils  of  the  period.  It  is  an  undeni- 
able fact,  as  he  has  stated,  that  we  have  taken  im- 
mense strides  since  prehistoric  man  lived  in  these 
primitive  abodes  and  used  the  chipped  flints  which 
have  now  given  place  to  implements  of  metal  and 
dwellings  of  stone  and  wood.     He  continues  thus: 

"The  human  race  has  meanwhile  accumulated  un- 
heard-of treasures;  it  has  tilled  the  soil,  drained  the 
swamps,  penetrated  the  forests,  laid  out  roads;  built, 
invented,  observed,  reasoned;  created  complicated 
machinery,  drawn  its  secrets  from  nature,  subdued 
steam;  so  well  that  at  birth  the  child  of  civilized  man 
finds  at  his  service  to-day  an  immense  capital,  accu- 
mulated by  those  who  preceded  him.  And  this  capital 
permits  him  now  to  obtain  by  his  work  alone,  com- 
bined with  that  of  others,  riches  surpassing  the  ori- 
ental dreams  of  the  tales  of  the  Arabian  Nights." 
This    is   the   keynote   of   Kropotkine's    argument. 


SOCIALISM   CONTINUED.  141 

Man  has  gone  on  tilling  the  soil,  inventing,  producing, 
accumulating;  overcoming  all  obstacles  of  climate  and 
multiplying  by  machinery  the  productiveness  of  the 
race.  And  thus  the  world  is  rich  from  its  great  prog- 
ress in  productiveness  in  every  branch  of  human  in- 
dustry; rich  beyond  belief.  Continuing,  I  translate 
from  Kropotkine: 

"Why  then  this  misery  around  us?  Why  this  labori- 
ous work  to  brutalize  the  masses?  Why  this  inse- 
curity for  the  morrow,  even  for  the  best  compensated 
workman,  in  the  midst  of  riches  inherited  from  the 
past  and  in  spite  of  the  ample  means  of  production 
which  would  give  ease  to  all  in  return  for  a  few  hours 
of  daily  work? 

"Socialists  have  told  and  retold  it  to  satiety.  Every 
day  they  repeat  it,  demonstrate  it  by  arguments  bor- 
rowed from  science.  Because  all  that  is  necessary  for 
production;  the  soil,  mines,  machines,  the  avenues  of 
transportation,  nutriment,  shelter,  education,  knowl- 
edge— all  has  been  monopolized  by  a  few  persons  in 
the  course  of  this  long  history  of  pillage,  migration, 
war,  ignorance  and  oppression,  through  which  hu- 
manity has  lived  before  learning  how  to  subdue  the 
forces  of  nature. 

"  Because,  availing  of  pretended  rights  acquired  in 
the  past,  they  appropriate  to  themselves  to-day  two- 
thirds  of  the  product  of  human  labor,  which  they  de- 
liver to  the  most  senseless  and  scandalous  waste;  be- 
cause, having  reduced  the  masses  so  that,  not  having 
enough  before  them  to  live  for  a  month,  or  even  a 
week,  they  do  not  permit  a  man  to  work  unless  he 
consents  to  allow  them  the  lion's  share;    because  they 


142        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

prevent  hirn  from  producing  what  he  needs  and  force 
him  to  produce  not  what  would  be  necessary  for 
others,  but  that  which  promises  the  greatest  benefit 
to  the  monopolist.     This  is  all  there  is  of  socialism." 

Having  now  given  us  the  clue  to  the  complaints  of 
socialism,  in  this  condensed  view,  of  a  robbery  which 
has  been  going  on  for  ages,  our  anarchist  author  pro- 
ceeds to  elaborate  upon  the  theme  of  progressive  im- 
proven)ent  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  without 
giving  the  confused  reader  any  clear  idea  of  how  he 
establishes  the  essential  part  of  his  postulate;  but  we 
shall  find  a  more  satisfactory  clue  to  the  fundamental 
proposition  further  on.  No  one  will  be  inclined  to 
dispute  the  progress  of  improvement  in  the  civilized 
world  ;  the  many  labor-saving  inventions,  the  intro- 
duction of  steam,  electricity,  etc.,  and  the  ingenuity  of 
man  in  increasing  the  productiveness  of  the  soil  and 
in  devising  machines  which  enable  human  labor  to 
increase  its  products  extensively.  Prince  Kropotkine 
wanders  off  in  these  well-worn  paths  as  if  they  were 
important  features  in  his  argument,  whereas  they  are 
simply  records  of  the  growth  of  human  intelligence 
and  could  be  just  as  well  introduced  to  prove  the  fal- 
lacy of  his  doctrine  as  in  giving  it  support. 

"  Millions  of  human  beings,"  says  Kropotkine, 
"  have  labored  to  create  this  civilization  of  which  we 
boast  to-day.  Other  millions  distributed  over  all  parts 
of  the  globe  labor  to  maintain  it.  Without  them 
nothing  but  ruins  would  remain  at  the  end  of  fifty 
years." 

This  seems  quite  probable,  but  the  proposition,  like 
much  of   the  socialistic   reasoning  of  the   day,  is  too 


SOCIALISM  CONTINUED.  HS 

vague  to  hang  an  argument  upon.  It  is  a  self-evident 
proposition  that  unless  we  provide  food  to  sustain 
life  we  shall  die,  and  if  we  all  die  the  globe  will  be  a 
heap  of  ruins  in  less  than  fifty  years  ;  but  Kropotkine 
likes  such  dismal  reflections,  whatever  their  bearings 
may  be,  and  it  is  his  book — not  ours.  The  sum  and 
substance  of  all  this  story  of  progressive  civilization, 
which  has  given  to  the  world  such  an  accumulation  of 
wealth,  resolves  itself  into  this  proposition  : 

As  all  people  by  manual  or  mental  labor  have  aided 
in  the  production  of  the  present  wealth  of  the  world, 
it  belongs  to  all  and  not  to  any  single  person  or  to  a 
few  persons,  and  as  it  is  consequently  common  prop- 
erty, why  should  it  not  be  appropriated  to  the  com- 
mon good,  instead  of  being  monopolized  by  the  few, 
who  have  no  more  right  to  it  than  we  have?  This  is 
Kropotkine's  position  in  a  nutshell. 

But  it  is  not  in  a  scheme  of  division  that  our  author 
sees  a  remedy  for  the  social  evil  of  which  he  com- 
plains. He  sees  the  folly  of  such  a  scheme.  His  plan 
is  more  in  harmony  with  Mr.  Bellamy's  community  in 
the  "Looking  Backward"  dream.  As  the  wealth  of 
the  world  belongs  to  all,  with  its  dwellings,  its  fac- 
tories, its  land  and  the  machines  used  in  manufacture 
and  agriculture,  everybody  can  live  in  ease  and  com- 
fort by  devoting  five  hours  a  day  to  labor  and  em- 
ploying the  rest  of  the  day  as  they  please. 

"All  is  for  all  !  And  provided  that  men  and 
women  bring  their  quota  of  work,  they  have  a  right 
to  their  quota  of  all  which  shall  be  produced  bv 
everybody.  And  this  share  will  already  give  them 
ease. 


M4        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

"But,"  continues  Kropotkine,  "in  order  that  this 
ease  may  become  a  reality,  it  is  necessary  that  this 
immense  capital,  cities,  houses,  cultivated  fields,  fac- 
tories, avenues  of  communication,  education,  shall 
cease  to  be  considered  as  private  property,  which  the 
monopolist  can  dispose  of  at  will.  These  implements 
of  production,  laboriously  obtained,  built,  fashioned, 
invented  by  our  ancestors,  must  become  common 
property,  in  order  that  the  collective  mind  may  de- 
rive from  it  the  greatest  advantage  for  all.  Expro- 
priation is  necessary.  Ease  for  all  as  the  end ;  expro- 
priation as  the  means." 

Here  we  have  the  grand  idea  introduced  in  the  word 
"expropriation,"  which  means  in  this  case  nothing 
less  than  confiscation,  for  there  is  no  other  expropri- 
ation possible.  Confiscation  is  robbery,  and  Kropot- 
kine favors  that  method  of  getting  possession  of  the 
wealth  which  he  claims  as  common  property.  It  is 
the  idea  of  the  mad  preacher,  John  Ball,  repeated  af- 
ter an  intefval  of  more  than  five  hundred  years.  This 
change  in  the  ownership  of  property  is  to  be  secured 
by  a  "social  revolution,"  which  is  supposed  by  Kro- 
potkine to  be  near  at  hand.     Alluding  to  this,  he  says: 

"A  mental  evolution  has  been  going  on  during  the 
last  half-century,  but  is  repressed  by  the  minority — 
that  is  to  say,  by  the  proprietor  class — and  not  having 
taken  palpable  form,  the  obstacles  must  be  swept 
away  by  force,  and  that  it  should  become  a  reality  by 
revolution.  Whence  will  come  the  revolution?  How 
will  it  announce  itself?  No  one  can  answer  these 
questions.  It  is  unknown.  But  those  who  observe 
and  reflect  are  not  deceived.    Workmen  and  explorers, 


SOCIALISM   CONTINUED.  145 

revolutionists  and  conservatives,  thinkers  and  prac- 
tical men,  all  feel  that  it  is  at  our  doors." 

The  cautious  method  here  adopted  by  the  anarchist 
leader  suggests  the  idea  that  he  may  possibly  fear  the 
intervention  of  the  French  government,  should  he 
give  free  expression  to  his  revolutionary  programme, 
but  there  is  no  difficulty  in  reading  between  the  lines 
what  all  this  means.  Our  ancestors  accumulated  the 
immense  wealth  of  the  present  time  by  the  labor  and 
inventive  faculties  of  all,  and  this  accumulation  has 
been  seized  and  monopolized  by  a  few,  when  it  be- 
longs to  all.  It  must  therefore  be  restored  by  confis- 
cation, when  it  will  become  common  property.  We 
cannot  expect  this  "expropriation"  to  be  voluntary, 
and  therefore  it  must  be  taken  by  force  through  the 
agency  of  a  revolution.  How  this  revolution  is  to  be 
brought  about  no  one  knows  exactly,  but  it  is  never- 
theless near  at  hand,  aud  everybody  knows  it.  This 
is  the  Kropotkine  thread  of  thought. 

Having  now  by  means  of  a  revolution  despoiled 
the  monopolists,  Kropotkine  begins  to  consider  how 
things  are  to  be  managed  under  the  anticipated  new 
community.  He  recognizes  the  errors  of  1793,  1848 
and  187 1,  and  develops  his  plans,  which  are  to  obviate 
the  mistakes  of  former  revolutions.  In  the  first  place, 
everyone  must  have  enough  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  thereafter  "no  one  will  be  forced  to  sleep  under 
the  bridges,  by  the  side  of  a  palace ;  to  fast  when 
there  is  food  enough  ;  to  shiver  in  the  cold  near  stores 
of  furs  or  clothing.  All  will  be  for  all,  not  only  in 
principle,  but  in  reality." 

And  this  is  not  to  be  accomplished  by  decree,  but 
10 


146        RAILWAYS   AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

by  taking  immediate  possession  of  all  which  is  neces- 
sary to  assure  life  to  all.  "Take  possession,"  he  says, 
"  in  the  name  of  the  revolted  people,  of  stores  of  grain, 
the  shops  which  are  crammed  with  clothing,  and  hab- 
itable houses.  Waste  nothing,  organize  at  once  in 
order  to  fill  the  vacancies  ;  anticipate  the  necessities, 
satisfy  all  wants,  produce  no  more  to  give  the  benefits 
to  anyone  in  particular,  but  to  enable  society  to  live 
and  develop." 

The  thoughtful  reader  may  find  this  triumphant 
programme  a  little  too  vague  to  satisfy  his  curiosity, 
but  Kropotkine  finds  no  difficulty  in  the  case.  So- 
cialists of  his  type  sweep  away  a  mountain  of  difficul- 
ties with  a  high-sounding  phrase  and  a  wave  of  the 
hand.  Why  then  trouble  ourselves  with  thought 
when  we  have  such  men  to  do  all  the  thinking  for  us? 
Kropotkine  brushes  away  objections  as  if  they  were 
but  cobwebs  in  his  path.  The  following  extract  from 
his  book  will,  I  think,  be  found  interesting  to  our 
readers  : 

"It  is  related  that  in  1848  Rothschild,  seeing  his 
fortune  threatened  by  the  revolution,  invented  the 
following  farce:  'I  will  admit,'  said  he,  'that  my 
fortune  may  have  been  acquired  at  the  expense  of 
others.  But,  divided  among  so  many  millions  of 
Europeans,  it  would  yield  but  a  single  crown  to  each 
person.  Well,  I  engage  to  restore  to  each  one  his 
crown,  if  he  asks  me  for  it." 

This  said  and  duly  published,  our  millionaire  tran- 
quilly walked  the  streets  of  Frankfort.  Three  or  four 
of  the  passers-by  demanded  their  crown  and  he  gave 
it  to  them  with  a  sardonic  smile,  and   the  game   was 


SOCIALISM   CONTINUED.  I47 

played.  The  family  of  the  uiillionaire  is  still  in  pos- 
session of  his  treasures.  This  is  something  like  the 
way  the  strong  heads  of  the  bourgeoise  reason  when 
they  say  to  you  : 

"  Ah,  expropriation  !  I  understand  you  take  all 
their  coats,  put  them  in  a  heap  and  each  man  helps 
himself  to  one,  ready  to  fight  for  the  best. 

"  This  is  a  joke  in  bad  taste.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  our  wants  to  put  the  coats  in  a  heap,  to  distribute 
them  afterward,  and  yet  those  who  are  shivering 
might  find  some  advantage  in  it.  Nor  do  we  propose 
to  divide  the  crowns  of  Rothschild.  Our  plan  is  to 
organize  so  that  every  human  being  coming  into  the 
world  may  be  assured,  at  the  start,  of  learning  pro- 
ductive work  and  habituate  himself  to  it  ;  and  after- 
ward be  able  to  perform  this  work  without  asking 
permission  of  the  owner  and  the  patron,  and  without 
paying  to  the  monopolists  of  the  land  and  ma- 
chines the  lion's  share  of  the  entire  product.  As  for 
the  wealth  of  every  kind  held  by  the  Rothschilds  and 
the  Vanderbilts,  it  will  serve  us  better  in  organizing 
our  production  in  common.  The  day  when  the 
laborer  in  the  fields  can  cultivate  the  land  without 
paying  half  of  what  he  produces  ;  the  day  when  the 
necessary  inipleuients  for  preparing  the  soil  for  great 
harvests  shall  be  abundantly  and  freelv  supplied  to  the 
cultivators  ;  the  day  when  the  factory  workman  shall 
produce  for  the  community  and  not  for  monopoly  ; 
laborers  will  go  no  longer  in  rags,  and  we  shall  have 
no  more  Rothschilds  nor  other  exploiters." 

But  some  one  urges  that  the  revolution  might  not 
extend  over  the  whole  earth  at  the  same  time.     Will 


H^         RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

you  in  that  case  establish  custom  houses  on  the  fron- 
tiers to  search  those  who  arrive  and  seize  the  gold 
they  carry?  It  would  be  curious  to  see  anarchist  gen- 
darmes firing  upon  those  who  pass. 

This  suggestion  makes  our  anarchistic  author 
squirm  a  little  and  he  delivers  himself  in  this  rather 
cloudy  and  mysterious  way  : 

"  Well,  in  this  logic  there  is  a  great  and  funda- 
mental error.  They  have  never  asked  whence  came 
the  fortunes  of  the  rich.  A  little  reflection  will  suf- 
fice to  show  that  the  origin  of  their  fortunes  is  the 
misery  of  the  poor.  When  there  are  no  poor  wretches 
there  will  be  no  rich  to  exploit  them." 

This  seems  a  little  muddy  to  the  inquirer,  perhaps, 
but  presently  Kropotkine  explains,  and  in  this  expla- 
nation gives  us  a  better  idea  of  his  postulate,  which 
assumes  that  all  owners  of  property  have  seized  and 
appropriated  what  belongs  to  all.  Referring  to  the 
middle  ages  when  great  fortunes  began  to  appear,  he 
says : 

"  A  feudal  baron  takes  possession  of  a  fertile  val- 
ley. But  inasmuch  as  the  country  is  not  populated, 
our  baron  is  not  at  all  rich.  His  lands  bring  nothing 
to  him  ;  he  might  as  well  hold  property  in  the  moon. 
What  does  our  bason  do  to  enrich  himself?  He  will 
seek  for  peasants  !  If,  however,  every  farmer  had  a 
patch  of  land  free  from  all  reclamation  ;  if  he  had, 
besides,  the  implements  and  the  live  stock  necessary 
for  the  work,  who  then  would  cultivate  the  baron's 
land?  Everyone  would  keep  to  himself.  But  there 
are  entire  populations  of  wretched  creatures,  ruined 
by  war,  droughts  and  pestilence.       They  have  neither 


SOCIALISM   CONTINUED.  149 

horse  nor  plough.  (Iron  was  costly  in  the  middle 
ages,  and  horses  were  still  more  so.)  All  these  poor 
wretches  seek  better  conditions.  They  see  one  day 
upon  the  road,  on  the  boundaries  of  our  baron's  land  a 
placard  indicating  by  certain  intelligible  signs  that  the 
laborer  who  will  install  himself  on  these  lands,  will  be 
furnished  with  implements  to  cultivate  the  soil  and 
with  materials  to  build  his  cottage,  without  paying 
any  rental  for  a  certain  number  of  years.  This  num- 
ber of  years  is  indicated  by  a  certain  number  of 
crosses  on  the  placard  and  the  peasant  understands 
what  they  mean. 

"  Then  the  poor  wretches  settle  upon  the  baron's 
lands.  They  lay  out  roads,  drain  swamps  and  create 
villages.  In  nine  years  the  baron  will  impose  a  rent 
and  will  levy  an  advance  five  years  later,  which  he 
will  double  afterward,  and  the  laborer  will  accept  the 
new  conditions  because  he  can  do  no  better  elsewhere. 
And,  little  by  little,  aided  by  the  laws  made  by  the 
masters,  the  poverty  of  the  peasant  becomes  the  source 
of  the  riches  of  the  lord,  and  not  only  of  the  lord, 
but  of  a  cloud  of  usurers  who  settle  down  upon  the 
villages  and  multiply  as  the  peasant  becomes  impov- 
erished. 

"  Thus  it  was  in  the  middle  ages.  And  is  it  not  the 
same  thing  to-day?  If  there  were  free  lands  that  the 
peasant  could  cultivate  as  he  pleased,  would  he  pay  a 
thousand  francs  per  hectare  (*)  to  the  viscount  who  is 
quite  willing  to  sell  him  a  patch?  Would  he  pay  an 
onerous  rent  which  would  take  from  him  a  third  of 
what  he  produces?    Would  he  become  farmer  in  order 

♦Note,  about  2.1  acres. 


150        RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

to  give  the  proprietor  one-half  of  his  crop?  But  he 
has  nothing  :  hence  he  will  accept  all  the  conditions 
provided  he  can  live  by  cultivating  the  soil  ;  and  will 
enrich  the  lord. 

"In  the  midst  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  in 
the  middle  ages,  it  is  still  the  poverty  of  the  peasant 
which  creates  the  wealth  of  the  landed  proprietors." 

In  the  same  way,  according  to  our  author,  in  all 
sorts  of  ways  through  manufacture,  trade,  etc.,  the 
well  to  do  people  of  the  civilized  world  have  made 
and  nourished  their  fortunes,  when  they  have  not 
squandered  them.  That  is  by  taking  advantage  of 
the  poor  and  profiting  by  the  labor  thus  at  their  dis- 
posal. It  is  not  necessary  to  elaborate  the  subject  by 
quoting  M.  Kropotkine's  words.  It  will  suffice  to 
condense  the  leading  ideas.  We  have  in  the  forego- 
ing a  frank  explanation  of  the  methods,  which,  ac- 
cording to  anarchists,  have  been  followed  by  the 
monopolists  who  have  acquired  wealth,  whether  in 
large  or  small  fortunes.  It  is  not  alone  the  very  rich 
nor  the  possessors  of  moderate  fortunes,  who  are  to  be 
included  in  the  list  of  despoilers,  or  monopolists,  but 
anyone  who  has  a  surplus  over  immediate  wants,  is 
necessarily  a  robber  to  that  extent.  The  feudal  bar- 
ons seized  the  fertile  valleys,  and  developed  them  by 
the  help  of  the  poor  laborers  ;  the  usurers,  and  all  who 
managed  to  accumulate  in  some  other  way,  cheated 
laborers  by  similar  processes,  and  probably  many  of 
these  same  laborers,  who  managed  to  save  by  great 
thrift  and  industry,  having  obtained  what  they  have 
left  to  their  descendants,  only  by  the  aid  of  the  poor, 
must  now  disgorge  and  be  contented  with  the  share 


■.K      ^ 


SOCIALISM  CONTINUED.  151 

which  Kropolkine  and  his  associate  anarchists  assign 
to  them  in  a  society  organized  and  reconstructed,  at 
least  on  paper. 

My  readers  may  have  had-an  impression  from  Eng- 
lish history  that  the  possessions  of  the  feudal  barons 
had  been  to  a  large  extent  confiscated  long  since  in 
the  changes  and  revolutions  during  the  last  five  cen- 
turies, but  this  interruption  in  the  chain  of  title  would 
not  be  considered  admissible  as  an  argument,  prob- 
ably, by  the  anarchist  who  can  follow  the  accretions 
of  fortune  in  but  one  path.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
all  surplus  wealth  is  the  product  of  labor,  and,  there- 
fore, belongs  to  everybody.  That  is  the  gist  of  the 
whole  argument. 

Some  crotchety  minds  have  been  disposed  to  cavil 
at  the  dogma  of  inherited  sin,  and  have  even  disputed 
the  justice  of  saddling  upon  their  posterity  the  fail- 
ings of  Adam  and  Eve;  but  not  even  these  skeptics 
can  find  much  fault  in  holding  us  responsible  for  the 
doings  of  the  feudal  barons  of  the  middle  ages.  Not 
even  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  who  got 
their  lands  for  little  or  nothing  will  complain,  per- 
haps, at  being  held  responsible  for  the  acts  of  the 
feudal  barons  of  the  middle  ages  from  whom  they  may 
have  descended.     Fiat  jiisHtia,  mat  cce/um. 

But,  after  all,  when  we  examine  the  propositions  of 
these  feudal  lords,  as  stated  by  Kropotkine,  they  do 
not  seem  unreasonable  or  illiberal,  when  subjected  to 
nineteenth  century  analysis.  Here  is  land,  they  say  to 
the  poor  people  who  are  seeking  work  and  a  living. 
Settle  upon  it  and  cultivate  and  I  will  furnish  yon 
with  implements  of  husbandry,  etc.,  and  with  mate- 


152        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

rials  to  build  yourselves  homes.  1  will  charge  you 
nothing  until  after  five  years  of  occupation,  etc.,  etc. 
Was  this  so  very  unfair?  Were  these  acts  wicked 
enough  to  call  down  upon  the  heads  of  the  present 
generation  threats  of  despoilment  and  destruction? 

Ponder  this  question,  ye  millions  of  the  middling 
classes,  who  have  laboriously  accumulated  enough  to 
be  only  comfortable  in  life.  It  is  a  problem  which 
interests  you  far  more  than  it  does  the  few  who  are 
very  rich.  Are  you  content  to  be  despoiled  of  your 
hard  earned  gains,  for  the  benefit  of  not  only  the  de- 
serving poor  but  for  that  of  the  idle,  the  incompetent, 
the  dissolute  and  the  vicious? 

But  Kropotkine  does  not  propose  to  despoil  every 
one  of  his  coat,  oh,  no! 

"But  we  wish,"  he  says,  "to  return  to  workmen  or 
laborers  all  power  which  others  possess  of  speculating 
upon  them,  and  we  will  spare  no  exertions  to  keep 
everyone  from  want,  and  that  there  may  not  be  a 
single  man  who  shall  be  forced  to  sell  his  labor  in  or- 
der to  support  himself  and  his  children. 

"This  is  what  we  mean  by  expropriation,  and  our 
duty,  pending  the  revolution,  the  arrival  of  which  we 
shall  hope  for,  not  two  hundred  years  hence  but  in  the 
near  future." 

Prince  Kropotkine  may,  perhaps,  have  stronger 
foundations  for  his  hope  than  those  upon  which  they 
could  rest  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic;  but,  as  accord- 
ing to  the  poet, 

"  Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast, 
Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be,  blessed," 


SOCIALISM    CONTINUKU.  153 

it  is  possible  that  he  may  find  himself  mistaken.  But 
it  will  be  interesting  to  know  how  things  will  be 
managed  under  the  new  scheme  of  social  organiza- 
tion, and  I  propose,  therefore,  to  examine  the  entire 
plan. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
KROPOTKINE   AS   A   SOCIAL    REFORMER. 

Kropotkine,  in  his  scheme  of  confiscation,  rejects 
the  propositions  of  some  of  his  brother  socialists  to 
confiscate  but  a  part  of  the  property,  which  he  claims 
belongs  to  the  whole  community.  He  says  this  will 
not  do.  It  would  lead  to  endless  trouble,  which  is  no 
doubt  true,  and  therefore  he  advocates  wholesale  and 
unlimited  confiscation.  Looking  at  the  matter  as  dis- 
passionately as  we  can,  it  would  seem  more  fair  to 
make  a  clean  job  of  the  confiscation,  when  it  can  be 
carried  into  effect  at  all.  When  the  attempt  is  seri- 
ously made,  the  resistance  would  probably  be  quite 
as  great  under  limited  confiscation  as  in  making  a 
clean  sweep.  Besides  if,  as  Kropotkine  tries  to  prove, 
property  now  held  by  part  of  the  population  belongs 
to  all,  why  should  a  portion  of  it  be  exempt  from  con- 
fiscation? The  fierceness  of  the  struggle,  when  the 
time  comes,  will  not  be  mitigated  by  a  proposal  to 
limit  the  confiscation.  It  will  be  a  struggle  for  a 
principle  which  is  as  much  involved  in  the  robbery  of 
a  part  as  in  the  robbery  of  the  whole. 

Among  the  difficulties  suggested  to  the  author  in 
carrying  out  the  social  revolution,  which  he  thinks  is 
rapidly  approaching,  is  the  want  of  provision  for  the 
vast  number  of  workmen  who  will  cease  to  follow  their 
customary  work,  and  who,  taking  part   in  the   revolu- 

154 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       155 

tion,  must  be  provided  with  the  necessaries  of  life. 
In  the  previous  revolutions  of  1793  and  1848  this  was 
a  terrible  obstacle  to  success  and  was  met  by  expedi- 
ents which  were  so  inadequate  that  their  failure  con- 
tributed to  the  non-success  of  those  formidable  revo- 
lutions. It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  consider  how  all 
this  body  of  non-producers  shall  be  supported  during 
the  few  months  in  which  they  would  be  occupied  in 
the  great  task  of  reorganizing  society.  This  is  the 
ever-rising  bread  question,  which  the  anarchist  leader 
would  meet  in  advance. 

Kropotkine's  idea  is  that  the  people  should  take 
immediate  possession  of  all  the  provisions  to  be  found 
in  the  revolting  communes,  make  an  inventory  of 
them  to  prevent  waste  and  to  enable  all  to  profit  by 
the  accummulated  resources,  in  order  to  tide  over  the 
period  of  the  crisis;  and  during  this  time  come  to  an 
understanding  with  factory  hands  by  which  they  will 
be  guaranteed  an  existence  and  a  supply  of  what  they 
may  want.  Then  he  would  bring  under  cultivation 
land  which  is  now  unproductive,  such  as  public  parks, 
etc.,  we  are  led  to  infer,  or  land  such  as  is  now  culti- 
vated in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities  and  devoted  to 
kitchen  vegetables.  Having  then  surmounted  the 
crisis,  there  must  be  a  reorganization  of  industry  on 
a  new  basis,  but  to  pass  through  the  period  of  want 
during  the  process,  provisions  must  be  in  common 
and  distributed  by  rations.  "It  will  be  in  vain  to  preach 
patience,  the  people  will  no  longer  be  patient;  and  if 
all  the  provisions  are  not  made  in  common,  they  will 
plunder  the  bakeries." 

Therefore,  Kropotkine's  plan  is  to  seize  everything. 


156        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

and  thus  to  provide  from  the  ample  stores  on  hand 
enough  to  carry  the  people  through  the  revolutionary 
period,  until  the  new  system  is  fairly  established. 
While  the  forces  of  anarchy  are  crushing  all  forms  of 
government  out  of  existence  and  confiscating  all  prop- 
erty, the  working  agents,  which,  in  this  case,  we  con- 
clude would  embrace  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of 
the  revolted  province,  must  be  provided  with  the  nec- 
essaries of  life;  otherwise  the  revolution  would  be  a 
failure  as  in  1793,  1848  and  '71. 

"  Instead  of  plundering  a  few  bakeries,  even  if 
obliged  to  fast  the  next  day,  the  people  of  revolted 
cities  will  take  possession  of  the  stores  of  grain  and 
eatables — in  short,  of  all  available  provisions." 

Having  done  this,  Kropotkine's  scheme  is  a  volun- 
tary organization  for  the  distribution  of  these  provi- 
sions and  to  regulate  the  occupation  of  dwellings,  which 
can  be  understood  better  perhaps  in  his  own  words: 

"Male  and  female  citizens  will  volunteer  imme- 
diately to  make  inventories  of  whatever  shall  be  found 
in  the  abundant  stores.  In  twenty-four  hours  the  re- 
volted commune  will  know  what  Paris  does  not  know 
to-day,  in  spite  of  its  committee  of  statistics,  and  what 
it  never  knew  during  the  siege — the  quantity  of  pro- 
visions it  had  at  its  disposal. 

"Only  give  the  people  elbow  room  {ks  coudees /ran- 
ches) and  in  a  week  the  service  of  provisions  will  be 
admirably  regulated." 

The  reader  may,  perhaps,  have  less  faith  than  the 
enthusiastic  Kropotkine  in  this  voluntary  service  of  a 
people  in  the  turmoil  of  a  revolution;  but  to  the  anar- 
chist all  doubts  appear  frivolous. 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       1.57 

Having  seized  all  the  provisions  available  in  Paris, 
it  appears  to  our  author  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
case  of  getting  fresh  supplies,  when  these  fail,  and  as 
it  may  happen  that  the  revolution  might  not  be  gen- 
eral, but  might  at  first  be  confined  to  certain  localities, 
such  as  Paris  and  other  large  cities  or  communes.  In 
such  a  case  the  replenishing  of  stores,  which  might  be 
exhausted  in  a  month,  or  even  in  a  fortnight,  would 
be  a  prime  necessity.  This  trouble  was  experienced 
in  1793,  when,  according  to  the  author,  the  country 
starved  the  great  cities  and  killed  the  revolution, 
although  the  cereal  production  in  France  had  not 
diminished  in  1792-93.  The  trouble  was  that  the 
country  people  were  not  willing  to  sell  their  grain  for 
assignats.  They  kept  it  for  a  higher  price  or  for  gold. 
No  wonder;  for  the  assignats  had  depreciated  so  much 
as  to  be  not  much  better  than  waste  paper.  Kropot- 
kine's  plan  is  to  buy  the  necessary  provisions  with 
merchandise  —clothing,  machines,  etc.  The  produc- 
tions of  these  materials  for  barter  would,  of  course,  go 
on  in  the  city  under  the  new  regulations.  And  thus 
he  solves  this  important  question  : 

"  Offer  to  the  cultivator  in  exchange  for  his  pro- 
ducts, not  scraps  of  paper,  whatever  may  be  written 
upon  them,  but  the  very  things  the  cultivator  needs 
for  consumption.  If  that  is  done  provisions  will  flow 
into  the  cities.  If  it  is  not  done  we  shall  have  poverty 
and  want  in  the  towns  and  all  their  consequences, 
reaction  and  overthrow." 

This  will  probably  strike  the  reader  as  rather  a 
fragile  thread  to  hang  such  a  tremendous  movement 
upon.     It    is    barely    possible    that    obstacles   to  this 


158        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

system  of  barter  might  arise  and  it  seems  extra  haz- 
ardous to  venture  so  much  upon  an  assumption  which 
may  not  be  warranted.  In  the  first  place,  the  coun- 
try might  be  hostile  and  resolve  to  starve  the  revolted 
cities  into  subjection;  and  in  the  second,  the  people 
in  the  revolted  cities  might  be  less  docile  and  less 
manageable  than  our  author  anticipates,  and  thus 
make  the  productiveness  of  the  city  doubtful,  under 
the  new  conditions  of  industry.  What  then?  Why,  a 
failure  of  the  revolution.  This  seems  to  be  a  danger- 
ous contingency  against  which  Kropotkine  offers  no 
acceptable  guarantee.  Starving  people  cannot  and 
will  not  wait,  and  a  slight  dislocation  of  the  anarchist 
machinery  might  involve  the  revolutionary  movement 
in  difficulties  of  the  most  serious  character.  If  the 
country  outside  of  Paris,  for  example,  should  not 
unite  in  the  revolution,  the  inference  would  be  that 
the  inhabitants  did  not  approve  of  or  sympathize 
with  the  movement.  We  can  easily  conceive  that  this 
might  be  the  case  with  a  thrifty,  well-to-do  peasantry. 
Large  numbers  of  this  class  in  France  have  acquired 
snug  farms  and  have  saved  enough  to  live  comfort- 
ably, and  they  will  naturally  object  to  any  system  of 
confiscation  which  must  necessarily  apply  to  their 
property,  even  if  it  is  urged  that  it  belongs  to  all  or 
has  come  down  to  them  through  the  feudal  baron 
swindle.  They  ought,  perhaps,  to  adopt  M.  Kropot- 
kine's  views;  but  will  they?  If  not,  why  should  they 
not  try  to  starve  out  the  anarchist  robbers?  The  bar- 
ter scheme  is  weak. 

The  plan  for  lodging  the  people  in  the  confiscated 
dwelling   houses,  present  some    difficulties,   but  these 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       '59 

are  brushed  away  by  the  author  in  his  peculiar 
method.  He  foresees  that  after  the  first  acts  of  con- 
fiscation, groups  of  well-disposed  citizens  will  appear 
to  offer  their  services  in  ascertaining  the  number  of 
vacant  apartments,  and  of  apartments  occupied  by 
numerous  families.  In  a  few  days  these  volunteers 
would  prepare  complete  lists,  of  the  apartments  and 
dwellings — healthy  or  unhealthy,  spacious  or  con- 
tracted. Having  made  these  lists,  they  would  notify 
their  "comrades"  in  the  crowded  parts  of  the  city  and 
simply  say  to  them  : 

"  Come  this  evening  to  such  a  locality.  The  entire 
dwellers  of  the  quarter  will  be  there;  we  shall  allot  the 
apartments.  If  you  do  not  want  to  stay  where  you 
are,  you  will  select  one  of  these  apartments  of  five 
rooms,  which  is  available.  And  when  you  have 
moved  the  thing  is  done.  The  people  in  arms  will 
deal  with  those  who  want  to  dislodge  you." 

This  is  a  very  simple  way  of  disposing  of  what, 
at  first  sight,  might  have  seemed  to  be  a  difficult  prob- 
lem; but  nothing  is  easier  than  to  arrange  such  mat- 
ters on  paper.  Some  people  might  want  an  apartment 
of  twenty  rooms,  say  objectors  to  the  scheme.  Not 
at  all.  The  Parisians  have  more  sense,  as  illustrated 
by  many  examples — ^at  least  this  is  Kropotkine's  view 
— and  consequently  thev  will  be  reasonable  and  con- 
tented. Trust  the  people  and  let  them  understand 
the  case,  and  they  will  be  docile  and  orderly — that  is, 
if  Kropotkine  is  not  mistaken. 

Another  case  is  put  to  the  author,  as  follows  : 
"Here  is  a  poor  devil,  who  by  strict  economy  has 
been  able  to  buv  a  house  lar-^e  enough  to  accommo- 


i6o        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

date  his  family.  He  is  happy  there;  would  you  turn 
him  also  into  the  street? 

"  Certainly  not,"  answers  Kropotkine.  "  If  his 
house  is  only  large  enough  to  lodge  his  family  let  him 
live  in  it,  parbleu,  and  cultivate  the  garden  under  his 
windows!  Our  boys,  if  necessary,  will  lend  him  a 
helping  hand.  But  if  he  has  in  his  house  an  apartment 
which  he  lets  to  another,  the  people  will  find  that  man 
and  say  to  him:  '  You  know,  comrade,  that  you  owe 
nothing  more  under  the  old  arrangement;  keep  your 
rooms  and  pay  nothing  more;  no  fear  of  the  sheriff 
henceforth;  this  is  socialism!'  " 

And  so,  in  various  cases  which  are  suggested  by  the 
author  himself  in  this  allotment  of  dwelling  places,  he 
solves  the  difficulty  in  the  same  off-hand  way,  not 
entertaining,  apparently,  the  least  doubt  of  a  cordial 
and  unselfish  cooperation  of  these  wild  and  undis- 
ciplined masses  of  the  people  rushing  to  secure  their 
share  in  the  spoils  and  benefits  which  the  revolution 
may  have  wrested  from  the  wretched  proprietors  who 
have  unfortunately  inherited  the  accumulations  of 
their  feudal  ancestors,  or  who  have  by  dint  of  untiring 
industry  secured  a  small  surplus  of  worldly  goods  to 
guard  against  a  rainy  day.  In  this  blind  confidence 
in  the  gentle  dispositions  and  justice  of  a  people  who 
have  just  seized  and  appropriated  the  property  of 
others  by  force  we  cannot  fail  to  observe  the  childish 
simplicity  of  the  author,  unless  we  attribute  to  him 
discreditable  motives  and  glaring  insincerity.  The 
idea  that  a  howling  mob  of  applicants  for  the  more 
comfortable  lodgings  of  the  unfortunate  descendants 
of  the  feudal  barons  could   be  so  easily  satisfied  and 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       i6i 

peacefully  bestowed  is  too  preposterous  to  require 
argument.  But  still  greater  weakness  will  appear  in 
the  sequel.  Meantime  let  us  follow  the  anarchist  plan 
in  other  directions. 

Having  now  provided  his  revolted  community  with 
provisions  and  dwellings,  our  author  proceeds  to 
clothe  them  much  in  the  same  way.  The  stores  filled 
with  clothing  are  of  course  to  be  seized  as  common 
property  and  opened  to  all  to  supply  their  wants. 
Someone  suggests  that  everybody  will  want  choice 
garments  and  every  woman  "a  velvet  dress."  Kropot- 
kine  does  not  believe  this ;  he  thinks  his  perfect 
society  would  have  simple  tastes.  Groups  of  people 
are  to  volunteer  in  each  street  and  quarter  to  take 
charge  of  clothing,  making  inventories  of  what  the 
revolted  city  possesses  in  this  line,  and  probably  adopt 
the  same  principles  as  for  the  distribution  of  provi- 
sions. The  feebleness  of  the  method,  the  childish 
reliance  upon  the  good  sense  and  honesty  of  the 
insurgent  masses  are  conspicuous  features  of  this 
solution  of  the  clothing  problem. 

These  questions  as  to  food,  shelter  and  clothing, 
which  necessarily  suggest  themselves  as  of  prime  im- 
portance in  the  preliminary  stages  of  revolution,  hav- 
ing been  settled,  our  author  next  deals  with  the 
question  of  organizing  or  regulating  the  hours  of 
labor,  and  this  chapter  he  calls  "  Ways  and  Means." 
He  concludes  that  five  hours  of  labor  a  day  are  suf- 
ficient to  provide  for  the  entire  community.  The 
proposition  in  the  words  of  M.  Kropotkine  is  as 
follows  : 

Suppose  a  society  embracing  several  millions  of 
II 


i62        RAILWAYS    AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

inhabitants  engaged  in  agriculture  and  a  great  variety 
of  industries,  Paris,  for  example,  with  the  department 
of  Seine  and  Oise.  Suppose  that  in  this  society  all 
the  children  learn  to  work  with  their  arms  as  well  as 
with  their  brains.  Admit,  finally,  that  all  the  adults, 
except  women  occupied  in  the  education  of  children, 
engage  to  work  five  hours  a  day,  from  the  age  of 
twenty  or  twenty-two  years  to  that  of  forty-five  or 
fifty,  and  that  they  employ  themselves  in  occupations 
of  their  own  selection,  in  any  branch  of  human  work 
considered  necessary.  Such  a  society  could  in  return 
guarantee  the  welfare  of  all  its  members — that  is  to 
say,  a  comfort  equal  to  that  enjoyed  by  the  well-to-do 
class  to-day-^and  each  workman  of  this  society  could 
dispose  of  the  rest  of  his  time,  beyond  the  five  hours 
per  day,  in  the  study  of  science,  art,  and  to  individual 
wants  which  are  not  considered  necessary. 

This  is  substantially  the  proposition  of  arranging 
work  under  the  new  programme;  but,  naturally,  the 
reader  wants  to  know  how  all  this  is  to  be  managed 
in  detail,  and  I  should  like  to  satisfy  the  inquiry;  but 
we  must  grope  further  into  the  labyrinth  of  anarch- 
istic socialism  to  extract  the  information,  if  it  can  be 
found  at  all.  M.  Kropotkine,  who  is  himself  an  edu- 
cated man,  sees  that  this  humdrum  life  of  five  hours 
per  day,  which  is  to  provide  for  the  entire  wants  of 
the  community,  would  not  be  tolerable  without  recog- 
nizing and  providing  for  the  higher  and  more  intel- 
lectual aspirations  of  man.  He  sees,  as  any  man  of 
common  sense  will,  that  to  confine  human  beings  to 
this  species  of  tread-mill  life  for  a  specified  number  of 
hours  per  day,  without  encouraging  the  development 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       163 

of  those  mental  faculties  which  have  for  centuries, 
especially  since  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing, 
constituted  the  highest  enjoyment  of  cultivated  men 
and  women,  would  be  to  brutalize  and  degrade  the 
entire  human  race.  Hence  he  hastens  to  relieve  re- 
generated society  from  this  formidable  objection. 
This  objection,  which  has  already  had  an  injurious 
effect  upon  societies  established  or  about  to  be  estab- 
lished in  the  wilds  of  America,  Kropotkine  proposes 
to  overcome. 

"Will  the  anarchistic  commune,"  he  asks,  "be 
drawn  into  the  same  way?"  meaning  of  course  the 
path  of  error  followed  by  the  societies  to  which  he 
alludes,  "Evidently  not,"  he  replies,  "provided  it 
understands  and  seeks  to  satisfy  all  the  manifestations 
of  the  human  mind,  while  at  the  same  time  it  insures 
the  production  of  all  that  is  necessary  to  material  life." 

And  now  Kropotkine,  who  is  obliged  of  course  to 
answer  for  the  anarchistic  community,  proceeds  to 
show  how  matters  can  be  arranged  to  gratify  these 
intellectual  and  artistic  wants  of  man.  As  society 
reconstructed  after  the  Kropotkine  programme  would 
require  but  five  hours  of  work  per  day,  it  follows  that 
the  rest  of  the  available  time  will  be  at  the  free  dis- 
position of  the  worker  as  his  tastes  may  incline.  He 
will  then  have  five  or  six  hours  to  satisfy  his  artistic 
and  scientific  wants.  Thousands  of  societies  will  come 
into  existence  in  response  to  all  demands  of  taste  or 
fancy.  Some  of  these  will  give  their  leisure  hours  to 
literature,  forming  groups  of  writers,  composers, 
publishers,  engravers,  etc.,  all  seeking  a  common  ob- 
ject.   "Will  literature  lose  anything?"  asks  the  author 


164        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

after  sketching  the  foregoing  ;ij)pro])riation  of  time. 
"Will  the  poet  be  any  the  less  a  poet  after  having 
worked  in  the  fields?  Would  the  novelist  lose  his 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart  after  having  touched 
elbows  with  the  men  in  the  factory  or  the  forest?" 

At  the  end  of  this  chapter  he  asks:  "Is  this  a 
dream  we  are  fabricating?  Certainly  not  for  those 
who  have  observed  and  reflected.  At  this  very  mo- 
ment life  is  pushing  already  in  that  direction." 

If  the  author  had  left  the  answer  to  his  questions 
to  his  readers,  instead  of  framing  the  replies  himself, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  a  very  different  conclu- 
sion would  have  been  reached.  If  such  an  automaton 
life  as  the  author  sketches  would  not  kill  poetic  fancy, 
enfeeble  the  imagination  of  the  novelist,  benumb  the 
inventive  faculties  and  discourage  the  development  of 
science  and  art,  it  would  be  a  remarkable  instance  of 
survival  under  depressing  conditions  and  chilling  in- 
fluences. Anything  more  likely  to  extinguish  science, 
literature  and  art  than  the  clumsy  machine  which 
Kropotkine's  reconstructed  society,  with  its  allotment 
of  labor  and  its  limitations  of  individual  development, 
can  hardly  be  imagined.  History  proves  conclusively 
that  the  conditions  under  which  these  intellectual  pur- 
suits flourish  must  be  entirely  different  from  those 
contemplated  in  the  socialistic  programme  under  ex- 
amination. Such  a  community  as  Kropotkine  dreams 
of  might  perhaps  resemble  Sparta,  for  under  that  gov- 
ernment theft  was  considered  a  virtue,  but  it  could 
hardly  compete  with  Athens. 

The  foregoing  outline  of  the  anarchist  plan  of 
socialistic    development    embraces    the    fundamental 


'S 


V 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       165 

propositions  of  M.  Kropotkine.  The  remainder  of 
his  book  is  devoted  to  an  elaboration  of  the  scheme 
under  different  heads,  in  the  chapters  of  which  the 
author  seeks  to  meet  some  of  the  objections  which  he 
anticipates.  In  this  way,  under  such  captions  as 
"  The  wants  of  luxury,"  "  Agreeable  work,"  "Objec- 
tions," "  Division  of  labor,"  etc.,  the  author  reviews 
and  tries  to  fortify  his  propositions,  but  whether  in- 
tentionally or  not  he  fails  to  give  what  may  be  called 
the  working  plan  of  society  as  reorganized  after  the 
Kropotkine,  anarchistic,  socialistic  ideal.  Perhaps 
the  author  finds  this  a  difficult  task,  as  it  certainly  is ; 
but  how  can  people  come  to  an  intelligent  conclusion 
as  to  a  scheme  which  contemplates  the  complete  over- 
throw of  society  as  now  constituted,  without  having 
practical  illustrations  of  the  new  order  of  things?  It 
would  occupy  too  much  time  and  space  to  follow  the 
author  through  the  chapters  named,  and  it  is  not 
essential  to  the  object  of  the  writer.  Summing  up 
the  argument,  we  have  substantially  the  following 
propositions : 

1.  As  property  is  the  accumulation  of  labor  during 
many  years,  it  belongs  to  all,  but  is  held  by  a  few  who 
have  seized  and  monopolized  it. 

2.  Therefore  we  propose  to  confiscate  all  property 
so  far  as  private  ownership  is  concerned  and  restore 
it  to  the  people — that  is,  to  all. 

3.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  a  revolution  is  nec- 
essary, and  this  is  near  at  hand. 

4.  This  revolution  will  not  only  confiscate  all  pri- 
vate property,  but  will  overthrow  all  government  and 
give  to  the  people  anarchy  in  its  place. 


K/ 


166         RAILWAYS    AND    THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

5.  After  the  revolution  people  are  to  work  five 
hours  a  day,  and  this  will  entitle  them  to  a  comfort- 
able living.  The  rest  of  the  time  will  be  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  individual. 

6.  During  the  revolution  the  revolted  province  will 
support  its  people  employed  in  the  work  of  over- 
throw by  distributing  the  provisions  and  clothing 
which  have  been  confiscated,  and  will  allot  dwellings 
which  have  also  been  taken  possession  of. 

7.  In  case  of  .shortage  in  provisions  during  the 
process  of  reconstruction,  the  revolting  commune  will 
replenish  the  supplies  by  bartering  the  merchandise 
and  implements  confiscated,  or  which  may  be  after- 
ward manufactured,  for  the  products  of  the  country, 
which  of  course  the  farmers  will  be  glad  to  exchange. 

After  an  attentive  consideration  of  these  proposi- 
tions, which  we  can  all  understand,  the  reader  natu- 
rally seeks  for  particulars,  but  seeks  in  vain  except  so 
far  as  he  may  find  in  the  rambling  comments  of  the 
author  in  the  chapters  to  which  allusion  has  been 
made  and  which  furnish  no  satisfactory  information 
as  to  operations  in  detail. 

How  is  the  revolution  to  be  accomplished?  Kro- 
potkine  does  not  knov/,  or,  if  he  does,  preserves  a  dis- 
creet silence.  It  is  natural,  however,  to  suppose  that 
a  man  who  seems  so  -dnfident  of  its  proximity  must 
have  some  foundation  for  that  belief.  As,  however, 
the  revolution  embraces  a  scheme  of  general  confisca- 
tion, it  is  evident,  and  indeed  Kropotkine  admits  this, 
that  it  must  be  carried  by  force.  This  implies  a  ter- 
rific struggle  and  a  fearful  sacrifice  of  human  life,  inas- 
much as  it  is  certain  that   people   who   hold  property 


KROPOTKIXE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       167 

will  never  surrender  it  while  they  have  strength  to 
defend  it.  A  propjosed  revolution  of  this  desperate 
and  bloodv  character  to  deprive  men  of  property 
which  they  have  honestly  and  often  laboriously  ac- 
quired, is  so  atrocious  in  itself,  that  it  is  not  surprising 
M.  Kropotkine  evades  a  discussion  of  it.  Still  he  knows 
that  such  a  revolution  and  attempted  reconstruction 
of  society  involves  the  community  in  horrors  beyond 
description.  Stripped  of  the  verbiage  under  cover  of 
which  the  anarchist  author  conceals  the  hideous  char- 
acter of  his  proposals,  it  is  not  less  than  a  plot  to 
bring  about  anarchy  by  the  murder  of  every  one  who 
stands  in  its  way.  What  cool  assurance  a  man  must 
possess  to  advocate  such  a  scheme  in  the  light  of 
nineteenth  century  civilization! 

But  the  anarchist  will  probably  say  the  end  justifies 
the  means,  and  but  few,  if  any  qualms  of  conscience 
will  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  stern  programme 
cf  violence,  bloodshed  and  robbery  which  has  been 
prepared  by  the  insane  men  who  profess  to  lead  an- 
archist thought.  I  say  insane  rather  than  idiotic, 
although  the  schemes  appear  stupid  enough  to  warrant 
the  use  of  that  word;  but  men  like  M.  Kropotkine  are 
not  idiots,  they  are  rather  to  be  classed  among  the 
fanatical  intellects  of  the  world,  whose  cruel  and  re- 
morseless energies  have,  duri"  t  past  centuries,  been 
devoted  to  the  forcing  of  their  own  dogmas  upon  the 
world,  at  whatever  cost  in  the  sufferings  and  misery  of 
humanity.  The  grim  placidity  with  which  religious 
bigots  attempted  to  convert  human  beings  to  their 
own  creeds  by  torture  and  the  stake  finds  its  counter- 
part in  the  cool  propositions  of  the  anarchists  who 


<. 


i68         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

would  first  kill  all  men  who  oppose  them,  then  destroy 
all  forms  of  government,  and  confiscate  all  property; 
for  what?  Simply  to  bring  humanity  under  the  oper- 
ation of  society  run  by  machinery,  which  would  be 
likely  to  be  dislocated  irretrievably  within  a  month. 

But  let  us  examine  the  propositions  and  try  to  show 
the  imperfections  and  difficulties  of  the  Kropotkine 
scheme  which  that  author  either  dismisses  in  a  very 
unsatisfactory  way,  or  avoids  entirely.  I  have  already 
noticed  the  singular  fact  that  the  methods  or  processes 
of  the  revolution,  which  he  regards  as  a  near  event, 
are  studiously  omitted ;  but  it  is  fair  to  ascribe  this 
reticence  to  the  imprudence  of  the  revelation,  while 
its  author  might  be  exposed  to  prosecution  by  the 
French  government ;  but  there  is  no  such  excuse  for 
omitting  details  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  work- 
ing m.achinery.  Organization  is  constantly  referred 
to  in  carrying  out  the  scheme ;  but  what  kind  of 
organization?  Is  the  reconstructed  society  to  begin  its 
beneficent  career  under  the  haphazard  method  adopted 
in  the  plans  for  distributing  provisions  and  clothing, 
and  the  allotment  of  dwellings?  Will  the  dependence 
be  upon  groups  of  volunteers,  as  imagined  in  that 
part  of  the  programme?  If  not,  what  kind  of  an 
organization  is  it  to  be  when  the  cardinal  principle  of 
the  anarchist  is  the  abolition  of  all  forms  of  govern- 
ment ?  What  species  of  organization  can  be  made 
effective  without  some  kind  of  government  ? 

Answering  some  of  the  objections  to  the  allotment 
of  labor  and  the  distribution  of  the  "common  prop- 
erty," M.  Kropotkine  says  that  if  anyone  is  dissatis- 
fied and  refuses  to  unite  in  the  arrangements  he  will 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       169 

be  told  to  leave  the  community.  That  is  an  easy, 
nonchalant  way  of  disposing  of  malcontents;  but  sup- 
pose they  will  not  leave  and  that  they  muster  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  threaten  the  success  of  the  experi- 
n)ent  ?  Nothing  is  more  likely  to  happen  than  this. 
What  will  the  commune  do  in  such  a  case?  Doubtless 
the  answer  will  be:  "Then  we  shall  force  them  to 
leave."  Whence  will  the  force  come,  if  not  from  some 
kind  of  a  government?  We  may  imagine  the  reply  to 
be,  that  meetings  of  the  commune  will  settle  all  this 
by  vote.  Then,  again,  M.  Kropotkine  says  that  if 
anyone  attempts  to  prevent  occupancy  of  apartments 
as  allotted,  "the  armed  people"  will  attend  to  him. 
What  does  this  mean  but  an  armed  force  authorized 
to  carry  out  rules  and  regulations,  which  are  equiva- 
lent to  laws,  and  which  are  necessarily  adopted  by  the 
commune?  If  so,  how  does  this  differ  from  popular 
government  which  expresses  the  will  of  the  people  by 
their  chosen  representatives  ? 

The  entire  scheme  outlined  by  M.  Kropotkine  rests 
upon  organization  at  every  step,  and  organization 
implies  government,  whether  by  meetings  of  the  citi- 
zens or  by  committees.  It  not  only  implies  but  com- 
pels a  method  of  government  to  make  the  organiza- 
tion effective.  Even  mob  rule  is  in  one  sense  govern- 
ment, although  the  worst  and  most  oppressive  of  any. 
Is  this  a  new  definition  of  anarchy  ?  The  anarchists, 
so  far  as  we  can  judge  by  what  they  say,  advocate  the 
destruction  of  all  government.  Do  they  mean  by 
this  the  annihilation  of  one  kind  of  government  for 
another  infinitely  worse? 

The  mystery  finds  no  solution  in  M.  Kropotkine's 


lyo        RAILWAYS   AND   THF.IR    EMPLOYEES. 

book,  simply  because  the  proposition  is  as  absurd  as 
it  is  impossible.  Whoever  proposes  to  reconstruct 
society  must  be  guided  by  common  sense,  at  least,  if 
he  is  serious  in  his  undertaking.  This  would  instantly 
suggest  that  human  nature  would  never  be  confined 
and  regulated,  as  parts  of  a  great  machine,  no  matter 
how  beautiful  the  theory  may  appear  on  paper.  Peo- 
ple do  not  all  think  alike.  They  differ  in  dispositions 
and  in  tastes  and  they  are  only  kept  together  by  gov- 
ernment.    This  is  self-evident. 

The  anarchist  programme  of  revolution  for  the 
reconstruction  of  society  is  but  a  scheme  to  substitute 
the  rule  of  the  masses  in  the  most  impracticable  and 
objectionable  way,  to  carry  out  the  wicked  project  of 
robbing  everyone  who  has  accumulated  a  surplus,  how- 
ever modest  and  however  acquired.  The  industrious 
workman,  who  by  sobriety,  intelligence  and  economy 
has  provided  a  comfortable  home  for  his  family  and  a 
moderate  competence;  the  well-to-do  farmer,  who  has 
by  incessant  application  and  toil  paid  for  his  farm  and 
feels  secure  from  want  in  his  old  age;  the  lawyer, 
physician,  engineer,  accountant,  trader,  as  well  as  the 
millionaire,  must  disgorge  his  "plunder"  for  the  com- 
mon good;  that  is,  for  the  benefit  of  "rag,  tag  and 
bobtail,"  embracing  not  only  the  worthy  poor  but  the 
dwellers  in  slums,  the  thieves  and  drunkards  and  the 
scum  of  society.  What  a  proposition  to  submit  to  a 
civilized  community! 

It  may  be  said  that  such  plans  of  social  reorganiza- 
tion are  too  preposterous  to  call  for  argument;  but  it 
should  be  remembered  that  these  Utopian  schemes  are 
constantly  presented  to  the   people  in   an   attractive 


KROPOTKINE  AS  A  SOCIAL  REFORMER.       171 

form,  and  that  in  such  disguise  they  lead  thousands  to 
a  quasi-support  of  socialistic  doctrines  from  which 
they  would  shrink  in  horror  if  the  reverse  of  the  pic- 
ture could,  at  the  same  time,  be  presented. 

Kropotkine's  book  unfolds  in  its  specious  way  one 
of  these  schemes,  founded  apparently  upon  the  gen- 
eral proposition  of  correcting  the  inequalities  of  life, 
of  alleviating  the  distresses  of  the  poor,  and  of  lessen- 
ing the  hardships  of  toil.  It  is  in  its  superficial  aspect 
the  "liberty,  equality  and  fraternity"  of  the  French 
revolution  of  1793,  which  brought  about  tyranny,  ine- 
quality and  military  despotism,  and  it  is  even  weaker 
in  its  provisions,  as  it  proposes  to  carry  out  an  elabo- 
rate system  of  reconstruction  without  government ;  to 
adopt  forcible  methods  without  force,  and  to  bring 
about  a  change  in  the  modes  of  life  and  the  habits  of 
the  people,  which  every  sensible  man  or  woman  would 
pronounce  impossible,  as  soon  as  fairly  analysed. 
Hence  it  is  useful  to  throw  the  light  of  investigation 
upon  these  projects.  They  are  either  true  or  false. 
How  do  they  appear  in  this  sketch  ?  How  many  of 
our  readers  would  welcome  a  social  revolution  which 
through  violence,  bloodshed  and  robbery  would  sub- 
ject them  to  the  slavery  of  allotted  work  at  the  dicta- 
tion of  a  mob  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IMPRACTICABLE    CHARACTER   OF   SOCIALISTIC 
THEORIES. 

Socialistic  schemes  for  the  reconstruction  of  soci- 
ety, so  far  as  developed  in  the  works  of  writers  upon 
the  subject,  deal  largely  in  imagination.  In  these 
dreamy  propositions  the  socialist  delights  to  lose 
himself,  and  to  paint  in  glowing  colors  the  picture  of 
enfranchised  humanity.  It  is  only  when  the  practical 
man  asks  for  the  dry  details  of  plans  which  are  to 
accomplish  so  much,  that  the  socialist  is  troubled.  He 
very  much  prefers  to  rest  upon  his  dreams,  well  know- 
ing the  difificulty  of  making  them  realities.  Some 
men_  go  through  life  in  this  way,  building  castles  in 
Spain,  and  never  attempting  the  construction  of  any- 
thing in  real  life.  But  when  men  of  common  sense 
propose  to  overturn  the  whole  structure  of  our  social 
system,  upon  which  the  happiness  of  our  lives  may 
depend,  they  should  be  prepared  to  show  by  a  work- 
ing plan  how  the  scheme  will  operate  in  practical  use. 

M.  Kropotkine  is  the  only  one  who  has  under- 
taken to  do  this,  or  at  least  he  is  the  only  one 
whose  works  have  come  under  the  observation  of 
the  writer,  who  undertakes  to  apply  socialistic  plans 
to  any  of  the  phases  of  human  life,  and  our 
readers  can  form  some  idea  of  the  practical  char- 
acter of  this  application.  Kropotkine's  chain  of  rea- 
soning is  something  like  this:  First,  we  shall  have  a 
revolution  ;  second,  the  revolted  people  will  take  pos- 

172 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES.      173 

session  of  everything,  and  provide  everybody  with 
food,  shelter  and  clothing,  and  then  require  no  more 
than  five  hours  of  work  ;  third,  people  will  be  content 
with  the  new  arrangement.  They  will  neither  dispute 
for  the  choice  of  dwellings  nor  for  the  best  clothing. 
Society  reconstructed  on  this  basis  will  move  along 
without  friction.  All  will  be  contented  and  satisfied, 
for  each  one  will  be  provided  for,  and  no  one  will 
want.  If  any  refuse  to  comply  with  the  conditions, 
they  can  leave.  Excessive  toil  will  cease,  and  monop- 
olists will  no  longer  appropriate  a  large  share  of  the 
products  of  labor,  etc.,  etc. 

The  innocent  confidence  in  this  programme,  which 
attributes  to  aggregated  humanity  qualities  which  only 
individuals  of  exalted  character  possess,  is  remarkable. 
It  assumes  that  the  most  incongruous  elements  can  be 
harmonized,  manipulated  and  guided,  without  any  real 
power  to  enforce,  beyond  that  voluntarily  assumed  by 
committees,  or  agreed  upon  at  meetings  of  the  citi- 
zens, and  it  seems  to  assume  that  people  can  be  gov- 
erned or  regulated  in  their  daily  lives  by  methods 
which  have  never  yet  been  in  successful  operation,  and 
which,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  never  can  be.  The 
assumption  of  anarchy  is  that  government  is  unneces- 
sary, and  yet  at  the  very  threshold  of  the  socialistic 
programme,  the  need  of  some  government  to  carry  out 
its  details  is  clearly  demonstrated. 

The  origin  of  government  is  in  itself  an  unanswer- 
able argument  against  these  wild  theories  of  maintain- 
ing social  conditions  without  vesting  power  in  others 
to  enforce  the  will  of  the  majority.  People  associate 
together   in   tribes,  or   in  some  combination  to  resist 


174        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

the  aggressions  of  evil  men,  and  select  their  leaders  to 
direct  the  force  thus  aggregated,  for  mutual  protec- 
tion. This  is  government  in  its  crude  form,  and  from 
these  primitive  measures  of  protection  come  the  larger 
communities  and  the  more  elaborate  systems  which 
constitute  modern  government.  If  all  men  were  just 
and  good,  the  necessity  of  such  organizations  might 
be  disputed,  but  until  human  nature  changes  we  can 
not  expose  society  to  the  evils  of  unrestrained  indi- 
vidual action.  So  long  as  there  are  wolves  in  the 
world,  we  must  guard  our  flocks,  and  so  long  as  there 
are  bad  men,  we  must  for  the  same  reason  protect 
society  from  the  predatory  incursions  of  those  who 
prey  upon  the  rest  of  humanity.  How,  then,  can 
anarchy  take  its  first  steps  without  the  means  of 
enforcing  them  ?  The  proposition  is  simply  absurd. 
And  if  some  kind  of  government  must  follow,  what  is 
to  be  its  character,  and  in  what  way  will  it,  or  can  it 
be  an  improvement  on  that  under  which  we  now  live? 
It  is  conceivable  that  some  of  the  existing  forms  of 
government  are  objectionable  to  the  people  who  live 
under  them,  and  if  the  socialistic  movement  simply 
had  in  view  changes  in  such  forms,  by  which  the  peo- 
ple could  enjoy  the  freedom  which  is  claimed  for  pop- 
ular government,  we  should  understand  the  purpose 
of  anarchists  and  socialists  ;  but  this  is  not  the  ques- 
tion. The  movement,  so  far  as  we  can  understand  it, 
is  quite  as  much  against  popular  government,  as  illus- 
trated in  the  United  States,  as  against  the  autocratic 
monarchies  of  the  old  world.  If  this  is  a  correct 
assumption,  the  world  is  entitled  to  know  what  kind 
of  a  government  is  proposed  as  a  substitute.      Is  it  to 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE    THEORIES.     175 

be  a  government  of  town  meetings,  or  of  committees, 
or  of  both  ?  If  the  anarchist  answers  in  the  name  of 
socialism  that  no  government  at  all  is  the  programme, 
we  add  that  this  is  impossible  and  that  one  of  their 
great  leaders  admits  that  force  is  to  be  used.  How- 
can  this  be  applied  unless  through  the  action  of  the 
people?  If  such  action  is  necessary,  that  is  as  much 
government  as  it  was  before  the  proposed  revolution. 

Anarchists  and  socialists  may  be  safely  challenged 
to  give  even  in  outline  a  scheme  of  government  which 
will  be  considered  for  a  moment  as  a  substitute  for 
that  under  which  we  now  live.  They  dare  not  attempt 
to  put  their  visionary  plans  into  tangible  shape,  to  be 
subject  to  analysis. 

It  has  not  been  the  intention  of  the  writer  in  these 
comments  upon  M.  Kropotkine's  book,  to  question 
the  motives  or  the  sincerity  of  many  who  have  been 
attracted  by  the  humane  features  of  socialism,  as  pre- 
sented by  its  most  intelligent  advocates.  All  plans  to 
improve  the  social  status  of  the  laboring  classes  are 
entitled  to  consideration,  and  if  they  embrace  propo- 
sitions to  accomplish  the  object,  without  assailing 
the  rights  of  others,  it  would  with  a  large  portion  of 
the  community  be  only  a  question  of  practicability. 
To  assume,  at  the  outset,  that  the  world  is  divided 
into  antagonistic  classes,  and,  therefore,  that  force, 
acquired  through  a  revolution,  is  a  necessary  prelimi- 
nary to  improvement  is  not  only  a  baleful  idea,  but 
is  in  itself  an  obstacle  to  any  practical  movement 
whatever.  All  schemes  to  benefit  humanity  in  this 
enlightened  age  have  but  little  chance  of  success,  if 
introduced  by  unjust  and  brutal  methods.     The  prop- 


17^>         RAILWAYS   AND    THKIR    EMPLOYKES. 

ositions  under  such  conditions  are  shocking  to  the 
very  people  who  would  be  most  influential  in  support 
of  reasonable  and  practical  measures  to  correct  social 
inequalities. 

An  intelligent  community  sees  in  the  violent  and 
wicked  plots  of  anarchistic  attempts  to  destroy  with- 
out hesitation  or  scruple,  the  fundamental  principles 
of  just  popular  government,  and  from  such  diabolical 
teachings  it  shrinks  in  horror  and  disgust.  It  is  not 
an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  acts  and  the  teachings 
of  these  misguided  men  have  done  more  to  retard  im- 
provement in  the  social  conditions  of  the  human  race 
than  all  other  causes  combined.  In  vain  the  moder- 
ate and  reasonable  class  of  socialists  disclaim  sym- 
pathy with  these  fanatics.  They  appear  conspicuous 
in  all  socialistic  meetings,  and  force  themselves  into 
leadership,  whenever  occasion  offers,  and  they  are  not 
discarded,  as  they  should  be,  by  socialistic  writers  or 
sympathizers. 

Another  point  of  difficulty  is  to  be  found  in  the  con- 
tradictory views  of  the  better  class  of  socialists.  Ad- 
mitting that  anarchists  form  a  body  distinct  and 
apart  from  socialists,  and  accepting  the  denial  of  re- 
lationship of  the  latter  as  true,  where  can  we  find  any 
clear  platform  of  principles  on  which  all  can  stand,  or 
any  practicable  plan  for  carrying  them  out?  Shall 
we  accept  the  theories  of  leading  German  socialistic 
writers,  and  if  so,  which?  Scarcely  two  are  alike.  Or 
shall  we  take  the  dream  of  Mr.  Bellamy?  Is  a  general 
distribution  of  all  property,  or  of  all  income,  one  of 
the  propositions,  or  is  it  proposed  to  vest  all  property 
in  government  to  be  administered  for  the   benefit   of 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES.      177 

all?  W^hat  is  the  scheme  of  government,  if  the  neces- 
sity of  government  is  admitted?  And  above  all  things, 
supposing  we  can  find  in  the  mass  of  socialistic  writ- 
ings a  definite  scheme,  what  is  the  order  of  proced- 
ure? 

I  have  sought  an  answer  to  these  questions  in  vain, 
after  reading  through  a  mass  of  socialistic  literature, 
and  I  am  forced  to  conclude  that  socialistic  ideas  or 
plans  are  in  that  nebulous  state  which  leaves  us  in 
doubt  whether  they  will  ever  materialize.  Herein  lies 
the  weakness  of  socialism,  so  far  as  it  seeks  to  remedy 
admitted  evils.  Most  of  its  mtellectual  effort  is  lim- 
ited to  a  statement  of  existing  inequalities  in  life, 
sometimes  distorted  or  exaggerated,  but  often  fairly 
stated,  especially  as  applied  to  foreign  countries  where 
class  distinction  is  recognized  and  supported  by  the 
system  of  government.  But  when  we  look  for  the 
remedy  there  is  so  much  diversity  of  opinion,  that 
plain,  common  sense  njen  are  bewildered  and  dis- 
heartened. No  plan  of  reform  in  the  social  condi- 
tions of  the  civilized  world  can  be  carried  into  effect, 
unless  it  is  first  clearly  defined,  and  if  it  is  forced 
upon  a  community  by  numerical  majority  through 
legislation,  or  by  any  violent  process  as  advocated  by 
Kropotk'ine,  it  will  certainly  lack  the  essential  quality 
of  permanence.  Tyranny  and  injustice  in  any  form 
are  remedies  so  much  worse  than  the  disease,  that  in 
practice  they  quickly  become  intolerable. 

It  is  easy  to  state  conditions  of  society  which   we 

may  all  deplore,  but  the  method  of  relief  is  the  real 

difficulty.     It  is   a  problem  which   man   has   worked 

upon  for  centuries,  without  having  found  its  true  so- 

12 


I  7-"^        KAIIAVAVS   AM)   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

lution.  Hence,  I  do  not  consider  the  generalizations 
of  socialistic  writers  of  any  value,  unless  they  can 
point  out  a  mode  of  relief  which  will  commend  itself 
to  the  world,  not  only  in  its  practicability,  but  in  its 
fair  treatment  of  all  classes  of  society.  Now,  if  we 
are  serious  in  undertaking  the  gigantic  task  of  recon- 
structing society,  in  order  to  correct  certain  evils 
which  we  should  be  glad  to  remove  from  humanity, 
it  is  but  a  waste  of  time  to  dwell  upon  wild  schemes 
of  revolution,  for  such  methods  would  only  bring  upon 
us  much  greater  evils,  and  end  in  greater  poverty  and 
greater  inequality,  besides  introducing  a  class  of  cut- 
throats and  robbers  to  administer  government,  or  to 
run  the  machine  they  would  give  the  world  in  the 
place  of  government.  In  other  words,  it  seems  to  me 
the  world  needs  less  of  theory  and  more  of  practice, 
or  at  least  of  an  intelligent  method  of  reducing  to 
practice  the  vague  schemes  which  the  theorists  present 
in  imperfect  outlines.  Without  the  least  intention  of 
disparaging  the  contributions  of  eminent  writers  on 
both  sides  of  the  socialistic  problem,  I  think  the  books 
and  essays  they  have  contributed  to  the  literature  of 
the  day  sadly  lacking  in  the  clearness  and  directness 
so  essential  to  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  prob- 
lem and  the  proposed  method  of  solution.  Written 
generally  by  scholars  and  philosophers  they  deal  in 
subtleties  of  thought,  and  technical  expressions,  which 
are  not  understood  clearly  by  ordinary  business 
men.  We  may,  for  example,  admire  the  profundity 
of  thought  in  Herbert  Spencer's  "Synthetic  Philoso- 
phy," but  to  the  unscientific  mind,  it  is  a  jargon.  We 
may  read  the  "Utopian  Millennium"  of  Thomas  More, 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES,      i  79 

looking  forward,  or  the  dream  of  Mr.  Bellamy,  look- 
ing backward,  with  interest  and  admiration,  but  at  the 
end  we  find  ourselves  as  much  in  the  dark  as  before. 
My  impression  is,  that  writers  upon  this  complicated 
subject  are  not,  as  a  rule,  practical  business  men,  and 
that,  consequently,  they  do  not  present  their  remedies, 
if  they  have  any,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  people, 
consisting  of  traders,  manufacturers  and  workingmen, 
who  at  once  apply  the  schemes  to  their  own  occupa- 
tions, in  order  to  test  their  usefulness  and  practicabil- 
ity. It  may  be  that  remedial  measures  are  concealed 
in  some  of  these  learned  essays,  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  the  writer,  or  it  may  be  that  working  plans 
are  not  considered  within  the  province  of  these  dis- 
tinguished authors;  but  certain  it  is  that  profound 
ignorance  prevails  among  employers  and  employed  as 
to  practicable  measures  of  improvement,  and  equally 
certain  is  it  that  no  socialistic  writer  has  yet  presented 
a  practicable  scheme  for  correcting  the  social  inequal- 
ities of  life,  which  would  bear  the  test  of  analysis. 

In  a  recent  article  in  the  Forum,  written  by  Mr.  W. 
H.  Mallock,  the  intelligent  writer,  from  whose  book  I 
have  already  quoted,  he  reviews  the  work  of  Dr. 
Schaffle,  entitled  "The  Quintessence  of  Socialism,"  and 
quotes  at  the  outset  Dr.  Schafifle's  views  of  socialistic 
writings,  which  agrees  substantially  with  the  features 
I  have  attempted  to  describe.  He  says  that  Dr. 
Schafifle  "begins  by  dwelling  upon  the  fact  that  social- 
ism to  the  world  at  large  is  a  somewhat  confusing 
thing,  because  there  are  many  writers  and  parties  who 
all  claim  to  be  socialists,  but  who  yet  differ  and  quarrel 
among  themselves  almost  as  vivaciously  as  they  quar- 


iSo        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

rel  with  the  common  foe,  and  convict  each  other — no 
doubt  with  justice — of  all  kinds  of  absurdities.  But 
beneath  all  these  differences,  beneath  all  these  absurd- 
ities, Dr.  Schafifle  points  out  that  there  is  a  certain 
foundation  of  agreement,  certain  common  ideas  or 
doctrines  ;  and  that  these  last  differ  from  the  former 
in  two  most  important  ways." 

It  is  precisely  this  confusion  in  the  ideas  of  social- 
istic authors  which  bewilders  intelligent  but  practical 
men  who  take  an  interest  in  the  subject  and  would 
cheerfully  assist  in  any  feasible  plans  of  removing  the 
disadvantages  under  which  some  of  their  fellowmen 
are  obliged  to  enter  into  the  struggle  for  existence. 
It  may  be,  as  Dr.  Schafifle  says,  that  there  is  an  under- 
current of  agreement,  notwithstanding  the  wide  differ- 
ence in  the  ideas  of  the  exponents  of  socialism  ;  but 
this  does  not  meet  the  point  in  question.  Whatever 
may  be  the  remedy,  it  is  not  sufificient  to  state  it  in  a 
general  way.  The  world  wants  the  "working  plan," 
not  a  dream  or  a  mere  theory.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
write  volumes  to  prove  that  inequalities  exist  in  the 
conditions  of  the  human  race  ;  we  are  all  conscious  of 
this.  Nor  is  it  at  all  essential  after  so  many  years  of 
observation  and  study  to  argue  upon  the  importance  of 
doing  all  we  can,  consistently,  to  ameliorate  the  social 
conditions  which  impose  greater  hardships  and  suf- 
fering upon  one  class,  while  the  other  is  comparatively 
easy  and  comfortable  in  life.  Men  are  not  so  blind 
as  not  to  be  able  to  see  this.  But  what  is  the  use  of 
all  this  socialistic  literature  in  advocacy  of  changes, 
which  are  apparently  just  as  impossible  for  socialists 
themselves  to  understand  as  for  their  readers? 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES       i^i 

The  truth  is  that  social  philosophy,  as  expounded 
by  the  subtle  intellects  of  that  school,  is  like  naviga- 
tion upon  an  ocean  of  currents  and  counter-currents 
without  rudder,  compass  or  chart.  There  is  too  much 
danger  in  this  drifting  policy  ;  too  much  blindness  to 
consequences,  and  too  little  practical  knowledge  of 
everyday  life,  as  practiced  by  the  industrial  agencies 
of  the  world. 

We  know  as  well  as  we  can  know  anything  that 
men  and  women  are  born  physically  and  mentally 
unequal,  and  we  know  we  cannot  help  this,  nor  would 
it  be  desirable  to  do  so  if  we  could,  and,  therefore,  we 
know  that  these  inequalities  of  nature  will  influence 
individual  life.  In  this  direction,  therefore,  we  can  do 
nothing.  But  is  it  not  possible  to  shape  matters  in 
social  life  so  that  when  the  individual  engages  in  the 
competition  for  existence,  the  way  may  be  as  easy  to 
travel  to  one  as  it  is  to  the  other?  And  if  we  cannot 
remove  all  the  obstacles,  because  nature  itself  cannot 
be  changed,  is  it  not  possible  and  practicable  to  re- 
move some  of  them?  If  we  answer  in  the  affirmative, 
what  is  the  course  to  be  pursued,  and  how  can  we 
adapt  this  new  scheme  of  life  to  the  old  without  a 
complete  and  disastrous  overthrow  of  the  vital  prin- 
ciples of  justice,  morality  and  religion? 

These  are  the  questions  which  present  themselves 
to  the  healthy  practical  mind,  and  these  are  the  ques- 
tions which  must  be  answered,  in  order  to  bring  social 
improvement  to  permanent  success. 

If  we  are  told  that  the  revolutionary  and  confisca- 
tion schemes  advocated  by  the  anarchist  branch  of 
socialism,  as  represented   bv  M.    Kropotkine.  are  not 


iSu         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    KM  IM.OYKES. 

those  of  the  more  advanced  school  of  socialists,  we  are 
led  to  reply,  that  except  in  the  open  avowal  of  vio- 
lent measures  which  is  implied  in  his  predicted  revo- 
lution, we  see  no  great  difference  in  the  scheme  of 
Mr.  Bellamy,  or  in  the  plans  of  any  who  advocate  ap- 
propriation of  private  property,  inasmuch  as  the  ques- 
tion of  confiscation  is  never  considered,  and  we  can- 
not imagine  how  the  state  is  to  acquire  possession 
without  violence.  Upon  the  whole  a  frank  statement 
of  an  intention  to  seize  and  appropriate  by  force  is 
much  preferable  to  the  delusive  propositions  which 
paint  in  soft  colors  the  millennium  which  is  to  follow 
the  abolition  of  private  ownership  of  property. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  introduce  here  a  few 
extracts  from  the  encyclical  letter  of  his  holiness 
Pope  Leo  XIII.,  written  in  1891,  a  copy  of  which  has 
recently  been  sent  to  me.  Speaking  of  the  evils  of 
which  socialists  complain,  the  pope  says  : 

"  To  remedy  these  evils  the  socialists,  working  on 
the  poor  man's  envy  of  the  rich,  endeavor  to  destroy 
private  property,  and  maintain  that  individual  posses- 
sions should  become  the  common  property  of  all,  to 
be  administered  by  the  state  or  by  municipal  bodies. 
They  hold  that  by  thus  transferring  property  from 
private  persons  to  the  community  the  present  evil 
state  of  things  will  be  set  to  rights,  because  each  citi- 
zen will  then  have  his  equal  share  of  whatever  there  is 
to  enjoy.  But  their  proposals  are  so  clearly  futile  for 
all  practical  purposes  that  if  they  were  carried  out  the 
workingman  himself  would  be  among  the  first  to  suf- 
fer. Moreover,  they  are  emphatically  unjust,  because 
they  would  rob  the  lawful   possessor,  bring  the  state 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES.      183 

into  a  sphere  that  is  not  its  own,  and  cause  complete 
confusion  in  the  community. 

"  It  is  surely  undeniable  that,  when  a  man  engages 
in  a  remunerative  labor,  the  very  reason  and  motive 
of  his  work  is  to  obtain  property  and  to  hold  it  as  his 
own  private  possession.  If  one  man  hires  out  to  an- 
other his  strength  or  his  industry,  he  does  this  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  in  return  what  is  necessary  for 
food  and  living  ;  he  thereby  expressly  proposes  to 
acquire  a  full  and  real  right,  not  only  to  the  remuner- 
ation, but  also  to  the  disposal  of  that  remuneration  as 
he  pleases.  Thus,  if  he  lives  sparingly,  saves  money 
and  invests  his  savings,  for  greater  security  in  land, 
the  land  in  such  a  case  is  only  his  wages  in  another 
form,  and,  consequently,  a  workingman's  little  estate 
thus  purchased  should  be  as  completel}'^  at  his  own 
disposal  as  the  wages  he  receives  for  his  labor.  But  it 
is  precisely  in  this  power  of  disposal  that  ownership 
consists,  whether  the  property  be  land  or  movable 
goods.  The  socialists,  therefore,  in  endeavoring  to 
transfer  the  possessions  of  individuals  to  the  commu- 
nity, strike  at  the  interest  of  every  wage-earner,  for 
they  deprive  him  of  the  liberty  of  disposing  of  his 
wages,  and  thus  of  all  hope  and  possibility  of  increas- 
ing his  stock  and  bettering  his  condition  in  life." 

Admirably  reasoned  and  clearly  expressed.  The 
encyclical  letter  sustains  the  position  taken  in  these 
chapters  throughout,  and  is  entitled  to  great  respect, 
as  the  utterance  of  the  head  of  the  great  Catholic 
Church.  To  the  writer,  the  sound  views  taken  by  the 
Pope,  in  language  so  directly  to  the  point  and  so 
full  of  the  common  sense  of  plain  business  men,  is  a 


184         RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

revelation,  as  from  men  of  eminent  learning  we  are 
led  to  expect  a  philosophical  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject, which,  while  displaying  scholarly  composition, 
often  mystifies  the  ordinary  reader.  Pope  Leo  XIIL 
evidently  means  to  be  understood.  Here  is  another 
nugget  of  thought  which  corresponds  closely  with  the 
views  given  in  this  and  previous  chapters  : 

"  Let  it  be  laid  down  in  the  first  place,  that  human- 
ity must  remain  as  it  is.  It  is  impossible  to  reduce 
human  society  to  a  level.  The  socialists  may  do  their 
utmost,  but  all  striving  against  nature  is  vain.  There 
naturally  exists  among  mankind  innumerable  differ- 
ences of  the  most  important  kind;  people  differ  in 
capability,  in  diligence,  in  health,  and  in  strength,  and 
unequal  fortune  is  a  necessary  result  of  inequality  in 
condition.  Such  inequality  is  far  from  being  ad- 
vantageous either  to  individuals  or  to  the  community; 
social  and  public  life  can  only  go  on  by  the  help  of 
various  kinds  of  capacity  and  the  playing  of  many 
parts,  and  each  man,  as  a  rule,  chooses  the  part  which 
peculiarly  suits  his  case." 

Can  anyone  controvert  this  proposition?  Is  it  not 
a  self-evident  truth?  The  extensive  circulation  of 
this  important  letter  renders  it  unnecessary  to  quote 
copiously  from  it ;  but  the  entire  document  will  re- 
pay an  attentive  perusal.  I  must  not,  however,  omit 
a  passage  which  evidently  favors  the  cooperative  idea 
dealt  with  in  previous  chapters,  and  to  which  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  refer  again.  The  extract  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  History  attests  what  excellent  results  were  effected 
by  the  Artificer's  Guilds  of  a  former  day.     They  were 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES.     1S5 

the  means  not  only  of  many  advantages  to  the  work- 
men, but  in  no  small  degree  of  the  advancement  of 
art,  as  numerous  monuments  remain  to  prove.  Such 
associations  should  be  adapted  to  the  requirements  of 
the  age  in  which  we  live — an  age  of  greater  instruc- 
tion, of  different  customs  and  of  more  numerous 
requirements  in  daily  life.  It  is  gratifying  to  know 
that  there  are  actually  in  existence  not  a  few  societies 
of  this  nature,  consisting  either  of  workmen  alone  or 
of  workmen  and  employers  together,  but  it  were 
greatly  to  be  desired  that  they  should  multiply  and 
become  more  effective." 

The  Pope  evidently  sees  in  the  cooperative  societies 
to  which  I  have  referred,  a  practical  remedy  for  exist- 
ing labor  troubles.  The  advantages  to  be  secured  to 
workmen  by  systems  of  profit  sharing,  life  insur- 
ance, pensions,  etc.,  are  quickly  appreciated  by  the 
clear-sighted,  broad-minded  occupant  of  the  papal 
chair.  It  has  not  been  the  purpose  of  the  writer  to 
quote  much  from  the  writings  of  those  who  disagree 
with  the  most  objectionable  forms  of  socialism,  ex- 
cept where  the  arguments  are  brief,  pointed  and 
practical,  inasmuch  as  such  an  undertaking,  to  be 
satisfactory,  would  involve  a  more  thorough  review 
than  seems  to  be  necessarv  in  this  condensed  analysis 
of  socialistic  creeds  and  plans.  According  to  the 
theory  of  the  writer,  the  subject  has  been  very  thor- 
oughly discussed,  and  he  therefore  believes  that  more 
substantial  progress  will  now  be  made  in  considering 
modes  of  relief  for  an  admitted  trouble.  The  ques- 
tion is  not  whether  social  inequality  exists,  or  if  it 
exists,  how  it  originated,  but  what,  under  the  circum- 


1 86        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

stances,  can  be  done  to  overcome  the  difficulties,  or,  at 
least,  to  mitigate  them  without  violence  or  injustice. 
In  view  of  this,  I  have  endeavored  to  ascertain  the 
plans  of  all  varieties  of  socialists,  and  wherever  these 
have  been  presented  in  concrete  form  I  have  tried  to 
show  their  weakness  and  impracticability.  Unfortun- 
ately these  plans  are  so  vague  as  to  call  for  more 
detailed  and  precise  information,  and  even  among 
the  interesting  and  intelligent  essays  of  those  who 
criticise  socialistic  theories,  we  fail  to  discover  any 
well-digested  plans  for  meeting  the  growing  diffi- 
culties between  employers  and  employed  except  in 
the  cooperative  plans,  which  have  been  already 
adopted  and  successfully  tried  for  many  years,  but 
which  are  still  in  the  infancy  of  development. 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  however  much 
people  may  differ  as  to  the  methods  of  improving  the 
social  status  of  the  working  classes,  there  has  been  no 
opposition  whatever  to  the  general  proposition  of  such 
improvement.  Indeed  it  is  to  be  noted  that  all 
classes  unite  in  favor  of  it,  under  fair  and  just  condi- 
tions. Opposition  to  plans  of  amelioration  con- 
centrates on  the  violent,  revolutionary  and  imprac- 
ticable schemes,  which  would  ride  roughshod  over  the 
rights  of  others,  regardless  of  consequences.  Such 
schemes  are  necessarily  attributed  to  men  of  unsound 
minds,  or  to  wicked  and  distorted  natures. 

Upon  the  whole,  much  as  we  may  lament  the  pres- 
ence of  poverty  and  suffering  in  the  world,  all  fair- 
minded  persons  will  admit  that  there  has  been  a  very 
decided  and  perceptible  gain  in  the  condition  of  the 
poprer  classes  during  the  present  century,  and  espe- 


SOCIALISTS'  IMPRACTICABLE  THEORIES.      '87 

cially  since  1855.  In  an  interesting  work  recently 
published,  entitled  "Social  Evolution,"  written  by  Mr. 
Benjamin  Kidd,  this  fact  is  confirmed  in  the  chapter 
on  "modern  socialism,"  and  it  is  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  be  worthy  of  particular  mention.  It  is  to  my 
mind  strong  evidence  of  popular  sympathy  in  the 
direction  of  improvement.  It  is  furthermore  the 
proof  of  a  social  evolution  which  works  peacefully 
and  automatically,  and  without  attacking  the  just 
rights  of  any  class. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
POPULAR   GOVERNMENT   ON   TRIAL. 

So  many  well-meaning  men  are  led  astray  by  vis- 
ionary schemes  of  improvement  in  social  and  politi- 
cal matters  that  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  to  find 
popular  movements  stimulated  in  a  wrong  direction, 
and  under  that  stimulus  acquiring  a  momentum  which 
will  become  more  and  more  difficult  to  neutralize,  un- 
less met  by  a  counteracting  influence  in  its  early  stages 
of  progress. 

It  is  thus  with  socialistic  theories,  and  especially 
with  those  of  the  milder  type.  The  members  of  this 
class  do  not  favor  the  wild  and  sanguinary  schemes  of 
anarchists,  but  argue  that  if  recognized  inequality  can 
be  corrected  by  legislation,  which  is  under  the  control 
of  numerical  majorities,  that  plan  of  action  should  be 
followed.  In  such  cases  the  will  of  the  majority  as 
expressed  by  popular  vote  governs  and  must  be  sub- 
mitted to.     Any^  other  course  is  simply  revolution. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  what  we  call  popu- 
lar government  is  the  result  of  many  centuries  of  re- 
volt against  oppressive  conditions,  and  that  its  greatest 
and  most  essential  feature  is  its  guarantee  of  equal 
rights  to  all  citizens.  Whenever  this  guarantee  is 
violated,  whether  by  a  majority  vote  or  by  a  misap- 
plication of  existing  laws,  it  is  prejudicial  to  the  per- 
manence of  that  government,  because  it  fails  in  the 

1 88 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  ON  TRIAL.   1S9 

application  of  the  fundamental  principles  upon  which 
it  rests.  Legislation  in  favor  of  one  class  to  the  det- 
riment of  another  may  be  carried  through  popular 
influence  and  prevail  temporarily,  even  while  in  con- 
flict with  the  constitution,  but  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  such  laws  is  sure  to  bring  about  a  reaction, 
because  the  injustice  involved  in  such  legislation 
would  destroy  constitutional  liberty  and  bring  disaster 
to  all  interests.  If  popular  majorities  can  secure  the 
passage  of  laws  which  will  array  one  class  of  citizens 
against  another,  whether  in  a  conflict  between  labor 
and  capital  or  employers  and  emploved,  and  such  laws 
can  be  sustained,  it  would  be  possible  to  reduce  one 
class  to  slavery  or  to  a  condition  not  much  above  it. 
Happily  the  constitution  furnishes  a  safeguard  against 
these  possible  attempts  to  abridge  the  rights  intended 
to  be  secured  by  its  adoption,  and  this  protection  has 
hitherto  been  sufficient  to  check  the  growth  of  such 
mischievous  legislation,  or  to  declare  it  void  if  car- 
ried through  some  of  the  coordinate  branches  of  gov- 
ernment. But  for  this  even  popular  rule  would  be 
intolerable,  although  founded  upon  the  idea  of  giving 
to  man  the  largest  liberty  compatible  with  the  secur- 
ity of  the  whole.  To  some  people  the  word  liberty 
means  license,  and  the  selfish  and  unscrupulous  are 
always  ready  to  take  advantage  of  any  chance  to  fur- 
ther their  own  interests  even  by  the  sacrifice  of  those 
of  others.  Masses  of  the  people  are  swayed  to  and 
fro  according  to  the  impulse  given  to  the  current  by 
the  leaders  of  thought.  Many  theories  of  social  and 
political  life  are  accepted  and  adopted  bv  majorities 
sinjplv  because  these  leaders  guide  public  opinion,  and 


190        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

popular  decisions  are  therefore  liable  to  error,  some- 
times quickly  recognized  but  often  prolonged  until 
serious  injury  has  been  inflicted.  Under  such  condi- 
tions it  is  quite  evident  that  the  people  are  often  mis- 
led by  the  mistakes  of  those  to  whom  they  look  for 
guidance,  and  it  not  infrequently  happens  that  these 
false  directions  are  followed  to  serve  the  selfish  and 
ambitious  purposes  of  able  but  unscrupulous  men  who 
use  their  influence  to  accomplish  their  own  ends,  re- 
gardless of  the  consequences  to  the  community  at 
large. 

These  are  the  weak  points  of  popular  government, 
but  they  are  in  reality  evidences  of  the  moral  obliquity 
of  human  nature  rather  than  an  argument  against  the 
form  of  government.  The  same  odious  features  are 
conspicuous  in  the  past  history  of  monarchical  gov- 
ernments, and  the  more  autocratic  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment the  more  easily  corrupt  and  ambitious  men 
obtain  control  and  the  longer  can  an  abuse  be  con- 
tinued. The  same  pliable  and  fluctuating  nature  of 
the  popular  will  is  available  to  the  efforts  of  high 
minded  men,  and  the  masses  are  easily  brought  back 
to  reason  when  conservative  intelligence  is  fairly 
aroused  to  the  danger  of  the  situation.  Many  politi- 
cal questions  are  so  complicated  as  to  require  a  study 
beyond  the  reach  of  men  who  are  occupied  in  provid- 
ing for  their  families  by  daily  work  and  who  have  but 
little  time  to  devote  to  the  solution  of  difficult  social 
problems.  It  is,  therefore,  often  necessary  to  change 
the  current  of  public  opinion  by  an  educational  pro- 
cess which,  although  somewhat  tedious,  never  fails  to 
accomplish  its  object. 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  ON  TRIAL.   19' 

The  vacillating  character  of  public  opinion  under 
popular  government  is  forcibly  illustrated  in  political 
questions  bearing  upon  the  financial  or  industrial  in- 
terests of  the  country.  Thus  the  advocates  of  a  high 
protective  tariff  and  those  who  favor  comparatively 
free  trade  alternately  prevail,  and  "  the  battle  of  the 
standards,"  as  the  discussion  of  metallic  money  is 
termed,  now  seems  to  favor  one  side  and  now  the 
other.  Ultimately  the  people  are  likely  to  decide 
wisely,  but  not,  perhaps,  until  practical  experiments 
have  demonstrated  the  true  course.  The  remedy  in 
such  cases,  although  effective,  must  become  so  through 
a  painful  experience,  and  therefore  the  necessity  of 
resorting  to  it  should  be  avoided  if  possible.  For 
this  reason  the  better  way  is  to  try  prevention  through 
educational  processes,  that  the  ills  of  unwise  legisla- 
tion may  be  avoided.  Hence,  I  believe  in  a  thorough 
examination  of  socialistic  teachings  and  plans,  feeling 
well  satisfied  that  such  an  investigation  will  convince 
the  common  sense  of  the  people  of  their  utter  imprac- 
ticability as  applied  to  existing  social  conditions.  If 
I  have  succeeded  in  the  analysis  of  the  socialistic 
writings  to  which  I  have  referred  in  leading  to  this 
conclusion  my  object  will  have  been  accomplished. 

Without  intending  to  disparage  the  efforts  of  many 
distinguished  writers  in  the  field  of  socialistic  litera- 
ture, it  has  appeared  to  me  a  waste  of  time  to  discuss 
the  subject  in  its  abstract  form,  but  to  bring  under 
review  the  plans  of  those  who  claim  to  have  found  a 
cure  for  the  conditions  of  human  life  which  appeal  to 
our  sympathies  and  deserve  our  respect.  The  general 
proposition  embraced  in  reasonable  socialism    of  ele- 


192        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

vating  man  in  the  social  scale  by  smoothing  the  paths 
of  progress  in  life,  meets  with  but  little  if  any  oppo- 
sition, but  unfortunately  most  of  the  leaders  in  social- 
istic thought  seem  to  be  dreamers  who  can  accomplish 
nothing,  because  they  will  not  descend  to  common 
sense  reality. 

At  this  point  I  return  to  the  plan  of  cooperation  in 
various  ways  introduced  in  the  early  chapters. 

The  late  James  Russell  Lowell,  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  a  friend,  wrote  as  follows : 

"Speaking  of  these  things  reminds  me  of  Howell's 
last  story  of  'A  Hazard  of  New  Fortunes' — have  you 
read  it?  If  not,  do,  for  I  am  sure  you  would  like  it. 
A  noble  sentiment  pervades  it,  and  it  made  my  in- 
herited comforts  here  at  Elmwood  discomforting  to 
me  in  a  very  salutary  way.  I  felt  in  reading  parts  of 
it  as  I  used  when  the  slave  would  not  let  me  sleep.  I 
don't  see  my  way  out  of  the  labyrinth  except  with  the 
clue  of  cooperation,  and  I  am  not  sure  even  of  that, 
with  over-population  looming  in  the  near  distance. 
I  wouldn't  live  in  any  of  the  socialist  or  communist 
worlds  into  the  plans  of  which  I  have  looked,  for  I 
should  be  bored  to  death  by  the  everlasting  Dutch 
landscape.  Nothing  but  the  guillotine  will  ever  make 
men  equal  on  compulsion,  and  even  then  they  will 
leap  up  again  on  the  old  terms." 

Howell's  book  introduces  a  socialist  of  the  extremist 
order  who  indulges  in  the  usual  invectives  against 
society  as  now  constituted,  exaggerated  by  a  sense  of 
personal  wrong  which  prevents  discrimination,  and 
attributes  to  society,  as  a  whole,  the  imperfections  of 
a  part.     Thus,  slavery  in  the  abstract  is  wrong,  but  no 


POPULAR   GOVERNMENT  ON   TRIAL.        193 

one  is  justified  in  holding  the  entire  human  race 
responsible  for  it  because  some  governments  still  tol- 
erate it.  But  while  little  respect  may  be  due  to  these 
violent  complaints  of  men  who  labor  under  the 
impression  that  the  evils  of  poverty  and  distress,  or  of 
unequal  conditions,  are  to  be  attributed  to  one  class 
of  the  people  more  than  to  another,  we  may  not  be 
insensible  to  the  disadvantages  under  which  many  of 
our  fellow  creatures  live.  In  fact,  people  generally 
not  only  recognize  the  difficulties  under  which  a  por- 
tion of  their  community  has  to  struggle  in  the  battle 
of  life,  but  would  cheerfully  assist  in  bringing  about 
a  change  which  would  render  that  struggle  less 
unequal  and  easier.  But  this  very  practical,  common 
sense  method  of  solving  the  social  problem  is  not 
acceptable  to  zealots  in  socialism.  They  appear  to 
think  that  an  entire  change  in  the  structure  of  society 
can  be  brought  about  by  sudden  and  violent  process. 
They  would  first  destroy  and  then  rebuild.  The  pro- 
gramme of  operations,  so  far  as  we  are  permitted  to 
know  it,  assumes  that  men  can  first  be  devils  and  then 
angels;  for  to  rob  and  kill  is  the  work  of  devils,  while 
to  construct  happiness  and  prosperity  upon  the  ruin 
and  desolation  they  would  bring  about  would  be  the 
work  of  angels. 

Thoughtful  men  can  hardly  fail  to  conclude  that 
questions  of  such  vital  consequence  must  be  solved  by- 
peaceful  and  voluntary  methods  to  have  any  chance 
of  permanent  success.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  the 
scheme  of  cooperation  which  struck  Mr.  Lowell  so 
favorably  commends  itself  to  all  who  examine  the  sub- 
ject thoroughly,  and  if  Mr.  Lowell  had  known  of  the 

13 


194        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

successful  operation  of  the  principle  in  Europe  and 
the  United  States  for  more  than  half  a  century  his  lin- 
gering doubts  would  have  disappeared.  The  writer 
had  the  same  doubts  before  obtaining  the  information 
which  he  has  offered  in  previous  chapters,  but  was  not 
only  much  surprised  but  completely  satisfied  with  the 
evidence  which  the  investigation  furnished.  When  it 
is  understood  that  between  150  and  200  industrial 
companies,  many  of  them  of  large  capacity,  have  been 
quietly  working  under  cooperative  or  profit-sharing 
plans  for  many  years  with  uniform  success,  and  when 
in  addition  to  industrial  works  we  see  the  successful 
application  of  the  principle,  through  systems  of  life 
insurance  and  pensions,  to  quite  a  number  of  railway 
companies,  both  in  the  old  world  and  the  new,  it  is 
evident  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  most  effect- 
ive remedy  for  social  troubles  in  the  department  of 
labor  which  has  yet  been  discovered. 

An  impressive  and  salutary  lesson  is  taught  by  these 
intelligent  and  progressive  movements,  and  the  more 
we  dwell  upon  the  subject  the  more  obvious  it 
becomes  that  a  grand  idea  has  passed  its  experimental 
stages  and  offers  itself  as  the  best  solution  of  difficul- 
ties which  troubled  the  slumbers  of  the  generous, 
broad-minded  Mr.  Lowell. 

In  this  scheme  of  cooperation,  applied  in  its  vari- 
ous ways  to  manufacturing  industries  or  to  transporta- 
tion agencies,  we  meet  the  only  real  grievance,  if  it 
may  be  thus  termed,  presented  by  the  labor  interest, 
inasmuch  as  we  open  the  way  through  which  the  work- 
ing classes  can  share  in  the  profits  of  their  industry 
according  to  its  productiveness  and  according  to  the 


POPULAR   GOVERNMENT   OX    TRIAL.        195 

contribution  of  each  workman  toward  the  product, 
when  the  plan  is  applied  to  manufacturing,  and  we 
provide  a  system  of  cooperation  for  meritorious  and 
continuous  service  when  applied  to  transportation. 
It  is  difificult  to  conceive  of  any  fairer  or  more  liberal 
scheme  to  both  employer  and  employed.  The  former 
gains  in  the  greater  interest  taken  by  the  employee  in 
the  success  of  the  industry  or  agency,  which  would 
be  quickly  manifested  in  more  efficient  and  econom- 
ical service;  while  the  latter  would  gain  in  the  ratio  of 
prosperity  and  according  to  the  merit  and  constancy 
of  his  work. 

Reference  in  a  previous  chapter  has  been  made  to 
minor  experiments  in  the  cooperative  line,  especially 
in  stores  conducted  upon  the  idea  of  supplying  the 
members  of  an  association  with  goods  at  a  small  profit 
to  pay  operating  expenses.  These  proved  to  be  fail- 
ures for  reasons  already  given,  but  they  furnish  no  cri- 
terion of  a  policy  which  has  proved  eminently  suc- 
cessful in  numerous  instances,  both  in  the  conduct  of 
industrial  enterprise  and  in  the  department  of  trans- 
portation. These  cooperative  stores  in  fact  were,  in 
most  cases,  not  connected  with  any  industrial  enter- 
prise, but  were  separate  associations,  and  not  having 
the  aid  of  an  industrial  enterprise  were  brought  into 
immediate  competition  with  large  establishments 
which  had  obvious  advantages  in  capital  and  experi- 
ence. 

The  system  of  cooperation  advocated  in  these 
papers  is  in  no  way  identical  with  the  schemes  which 
look  to  government  for  direction  and  control.  The 
success  of  the  plan  depends  upon  its  voluntary  adop- 


196        RAILWAYS  AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

tion  bv  eniplovers  and  its  acceptance  by  the  employed, 
and  as  hitherto  stated,  the  fundamental  idea  is  that 
the  svstem  will  prove  mutually  beneficial.  Individual 
independence  and  individual  responsibility  are  to  be 
preserved,  and  no  one  is  asked  to  surrender  his  per- 
sonal identity  or  personal  ambition  to  be  conglom- 
erated in  a  mass  which  would  blend  intelligence  with 
stupidity  and  ability  with  incapacity.  In  short,  while 
the  cooperative  system,  as  illustrated  in  the  examples 
given  in  industrial  and  transportation  companies,  is 
intended  to  meet  and  rectify  the  imperfections  of  the 
social  status,  it  will  owe  its  success  to  the  obvious 
advantages  of  giving  to  labor  an  incentive  which  will 
make  it  more  profitable  to  employing  agencies,  not  by 
harder  work  but  by  its  superiority  over  mere  perfunc- 
tory service.  Mutuality  of  interest  is  the  keynote  to 
this  programme  of  cooperation.  It  is  not  only  easy 
of  application  but  with  equal  facility  it  can  be  adapted 
to  anv  form  of  industry. 

In  the  department  of  manufacture  it  can  be  applied 
in  various  ways,  but  perhaps  the  methods  adopted  by 
■  Mr.  Alfred  Dolge  and  the  N.  O.  Nelson  Manufacturing 
company,  sketches  of  which  have  been  given  in  former 
chapters,  furnish  good  examples.  The  workmen  under 
these  plans  receive  in  the  first  place  fair  wages,  and 
in  the  second  have  an  interest  in  the  net  profits  of 
the  business  after  deducting  all  expenses,  and  a  fair 
interest  on  the  capital  invested.  The  principle  can 
be  applied  to  agriculture  in  the  same  general  way,  but 
would  be  even  more  simple.  By  way  of  illustration 
we  will  suppose  a  farmer  to  engage  his  hands  for  the 
year  or  the  season,  at  stated  wages  for  the  time.      He 


POPULAR   GOVERNMENT  ON   TRIAL.        197 

then  agrees  to  give  them  an  interest  in  the  net  profits, 
according  to  the  skill  and  capacity  of  the  laborer, 
based  perhaps  upon  wages  as  a  criterion  of  the  quality 
of  service.  At  the  end  of  the  year  or  season  the  farmer 
charges  the  account  with  the  interest  on  the  cost  or 
estimated  value  of  his  land,  building,  implements,  live 
stock,  etc.,  and  a  fair  compensation  for  his  own  serv- 
ices as  superintendent,  and  from  the  net  profits  thus 
established  the  farm  hands  receive  the  allotted  per- 
centage. If  the  enterprise  is  successful  the  addition 
to  the  wages  will  be  a  well  merited  reward  to  those  who 
have  contributed  to  the  result.  If  the  conditions  are 
unfavorable  and  no  surplus  remains  to  divide  the 
workmen  will  still  have  received  their  wages,  and  the 
farmer  alone  will  be  the  loser. 

In  the  department  of  transportation  the  system  of 
life  insurance  and  pensions  represents  the  profit  shar- 
ing adopted  by  industrial  companies  to  the  extent 
which  these  companies  may  contribute  to  the  funds, 
or  to  the  expenses  of  management,  etc.  The  plans 
detailed  in  previous  chapters  have  been  in  successful 
operation  for  some  years  and  are  perhaps  as  well  ar- 
ranged to  carry  out  the  design  as  any  which  collect 
the  funds  partly  from  the  working  force  employed. 
The  preference  of  the  writer  is  for  the  establishment 
of  a  fund  created  entirely  from  the  surplus  earnings 
of  transportation  companies,  instead  of  levying  assess- 
ments on  the  wages  of  employees,  but  for  reasons  already 
given  this  will  be  impracticable  until  the  conditions  of 
railway  traffic  undergo  a  radical  change  for  the  better. 
In  the  meantime  the  experience  of  railway  companies 
proves  the  advantage   of  the   svstem   so   conclusively 


198         KAIl.WAVS   AM)     IHI-.IK    I:M  1'I.()YP:ES. 

that  its  adoption  throuLjliout  the  countrx-  would  be  an 
intelligent  and  progressive  movement.  In  this  con- 
nection it  may  be  interesting  to  quote  from  a  recent 
report  of  the  Pennsylvania  Voluntary  Relief  Depart- 
ment, giving  the  result  of  nine  years  of  operation  un- 
der the  system  which  I  have  already  described. 

"The  revenue  of  the  fund  is  derived  from  three 
sources:  First,  dues  of  members;  second,  interest  paid 
by  the  conipany  on  current  balances;  third,  contribu- 
tions by  the  companies  to  make  up  deficiencies. 

During  the  nine  years  of  the  operation  of  this  fund 
there  has  been  paid  into  it  by  employees,  in  dues — 

The  sum  of $3,957,242.78 

To  this  has  been  added   interest  received  on  current   balances,  sur- 
plus fund,  etc 931725.30 

Also  contributions  by  the  companies  for  deficiencies,   company    re- 
lief, operating  expenses,  etc 898,042.94 


Total  revenue  from  all  sources  for  the  nine  years  ending  Dec. 

31,1894 $4,949,011.02 

The  disbursements  during  the  above  period  amounted  to $4,480,325.23 

Of  which  sum  there  was  paid  in  benefits: 

For  accident $    722.565.15 

For  sickness 1,287,220.48 

For  death  from  accident 420,944.45 

For  death  from  natural  causes i  ,279,214.55 


Total  payment  of  benefits  aggregating $3,709,944.63 

The  foregoing  statements  show  that  the  payments 
have  reached  an  enormous  total.  Large  as  this  total 
is  it  can  convey  no  adequate  idea  of  the  good  that  has 
been  accomplished  or  the  distress  that  has  been  re- 
lieved. The  benefits  distributed  by  this  fund  have 
brought  comfort  to  thousands  of  homes  which,  with- 
out them,  would  often  have  been  destitute  of  the  bar- 
est necessities;  they  have  relieved  the  distress  of  the 
sick  and  their  friends;  the  man  whose  calling  exposes 
him  to  special  risks  has  been  able  to  feel  that  in   case 


POPULAR   GOVERNMENT  ON   TRIAL.        199 

of  accident  to  himself,  his  loved  ones  will  not  be  left 
without  some  means  of  support,  and  the  dying  have 
been  comforted  with  the  thought  that  some  provision 
has  been  made  for  those  whom  they  were  leaving  be- 
reft of  the  strong  arm  and  loving  care  that  had  minis- 
tered to  their  wants. 

Membership  in  the  relief  fund  is  entirely  voluntary, 
and  any  employee  in  good  physical  condition  and  not 
over  45  years  of  age  may  be  enrolled  therein  upon 
making  application  to  the  person  under  whom  he  is 
employed.  The  membership  at  the  close  of  1894  num- 
bered 33,405,  which  includes  more  than  half  the  em- 
ployees, and  a  much  larger  proportion  of  those  who  by 
reason  of  age  and  physical  condition  are  eligible." 

What  more  substantial  proof  of  the  beneficent  re- 
sults of  this  cooperative  work  could  be  desired? 

A  few  simple  facts  like  the  foregoing  are  potent 
arguments  in  support  of  the  cooperative  policy,  and 
of  more  real  value  to  the  world  than  all  the  socialistic 
literature  of  the  times. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
COOPERATION   THE   BEST   REMEDY. 

A  reorganization  of  society  upon  any  line  sug- 
gested in  socialistic  plans,  even  of  a  reasonable  char- 
acter, would  be  necessarily  a  slow  process;  that  is,  if 
such  reorganization  should  be  attempted  by  any 
peaceful  process,  and  even  then  it  would  requiie 
patient  and  careful  work  to  be  sure  of  real  progress,  so 
prone  is  man  to  adhere  to  old  methods  rather  than  to 
venture  upon  new.  Nothing  short  of  revolution  could 
accomplish  a  quick  change  in  the  structure  of  society, 
and  this  would  only  last  until  another  revolution  had 
time  to  materialize;  for  the  first  would  sow  the  seeds 
of  the  second,  as  certainly  as  the  germs  of  the  new 
growth  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  carried  by  storm 
and  wind  to  neighboring  soil  favorable  to  their  propa- 
gation. Violent  or  revolutionary  methods,  therefore, 
could  not  expedite  the  change,  but  would,  in  fact, 
greatly  retard  real  improvement,  because  they  would 
simply  force  a  change  which,  being  against  the  will  of 
the  employer  class,  and  against  the  interests  of  the 
owners  of  property,  could  only  last  while  the  power  to 
enforce  remained.  This  would  be  of  brief  duration 
on  account  of  the  tyranny  and  injustice  of  the  recon- 
struction measures.  Social  revolution  can  have  no 
substantial  foundations  if  it  reduces  a  part  of  the  peo- 
ple to  a  condition  equivalent  to  servitude;  and  in  the 


COOPERATION  THE   BEST  REMEDY.        201 

reaction  sure  to  follow,  the  cause  which  the  revolution 
pretended  to  espouse  would  be  injured  and  greatly 
delayed.  This  is  not  mere  assumption;  it  is  proved 
by  numerous  examples  recorded  in  the  history  of  civ- 
ilized nations. 

In  a  recently  published  work  of  Professor  Robert 
Flint,  of  the  University  of  Edinburg,  called  "  Social- 
ism," he  says  that  when  Proudhon,  upon  examination 
before  a  magistrate,  after  the  days  of  June,  1848,  was 
asked  "  What  is  socialism?"  he  replied:  "  Every  aspi.- 
ration  towards  the  amelioration  of  society."  "  In  that 
case,"  said  the  magistrate,  "we  are  all  socialists?" 
"That  is  precisely  what  I  think,"  said  Proudhon. 

If  the  magistrate  had  added  that  the  point  of  dis- 
agreement was  to  be  found  in  the  methods  of  accom- 
plishing this  amelioration,  he  would  have  been  more 
correct.  Proudhon's  method,  like  that  of  most  of  the 
French  socialists,  embraced  propositions  so  radical 
and  defective  that  practical  men  of  intelligence  reject 
them  at  once  as  unsound  and  visionary.  We  may  all 
agree  that  the  removal  of  poverty  and  disease  would 
be  a  blessing  to  humanity,  but  to  favor  a  plan  for  their 
removal  which  would  inflict  greater  evils  upon  the 
community,  would  be  insanity.  And  this  is  the  fatal 
objection  to  all  socialistic  plans  which  have  been  given 
to  the  world,  except  in  the  idea  of  cooperation. 

But  the  cooperation  which  these  papers  advocate 
involves  no  change  in  the  structure  or  organization  of 
society  which  is  not  the  result  of  voluntary  action.  If 
it  succeeds  at  all  it  will  owe  its  success  to  the  fact  that 
the  mutual  interests  of  employers  and  employed  are 
consulted.  Society  moves  on  as  before,  subject  to  such 


202         RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

improvements  as  may  urge  themselves  upon  the  indi- 
viduals which  compose  it.  It  calls  for  no  violence 
and  no  injustice,  but  simply  points  out  a  way  to  inter- 
est and  utilize  labor  in  order  to  make  it  more  efficient 
and  profitable  to  employers  and  employed. 

But  employers  may  ask  :  "Why  should  we  change 
our  method  of  doing  business  ?  We  are  satisfied  to 
conduct  it  as  heretofore."  The  answer  is,  that  pros- 
perity under  the  cooperative  or  profit-sharing  plans, 
as  herein  advocated,  is  likely  to  be  more  permanent, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  employing  agency  will  be 
able  to  contribute  to  the  great  object  of  elevating 
labor  in  the  social  scale.  Man  is  induced  to  work, 
first  to  sustain  life ;  and,  second,  to  provide  for  those 
who  are  dependent  upon  him.  It  is  therefore  certain 
that  any  work  in  which  he  engages,  which  yields  to 
him  his  customary  wages  and  gives  him  in  addition 
the  chance  of  adding  to  them  a  moderate  share  of  the 
profits  of  the  industry,  will  stimulate  him  to  greater 
exertions  in  the  work  which  is  to  contribute  to  the 
profits  of  the  industry.  Not  only  will  he  work  with 
greater  earnestness,  but  so  far  as  economy  will  aid  in 
producing  larger  profits,  he  can  hardly  fail  to  assist  in 
that  way. 

Any  industry  or  any  transportation  agency  which 
has  the  benefit  of  the  intelligent  cooperation  of  its 
working  force,  influenced  by  personal  interest,  must 
have  a  great  advantage  in  this  good  will  on  the  part 
of  that  force,  and  the  work  of  such  a  concern  will  not 
only  be  superior,  but  its  cost  will  be  reduced  to  the 
lowest  limits  commensurate  with  satisfactory  work.  If 
this  is  a  reasonable  and  logical  expectation,  industries 


COOPERATION    THE    BEST    REMEDY.        203 

or  agencies  conducted  upon  the  cooperative  plan  will 
yield  more  satisfactory  profits  than  those  which  adhere 
to  the  old  system,  and  in  order  to  compete  with  them 
the  system  will  be  adopted  by  most  of  them.  No 
compulsion  is  needed  to  bring  about  a  change  which 
will  be  beneficial  to  employer  and  employed.  It  is 
not  simply  in  the  interest  of  labor  that  cooperation  is 
urged  in  these  papers,  but  because  it  is  believed  to  be 
an  arrangement  which  will  benefit  employers  quite  as 
much  as  the  employed.  The  system  has  passed  through 
the  experimental  stage  and  may  be  pronounced  a 
success.  Why  then  should  it  not  be  tried  by  enterpris- 
ing men  in  all  branches  of  industry,  whenever  oppor- 
tunity offers  ?  It  is  possible  that  many  improvements 
may  be  introduced  to  adapt  and  perfect  the  general 
plan.  So  much  the  better,  for  its  progress  will  be  the 
more  rapid  and  the  more  successful.  The  scheme  in 
its  general  scope  appeals  to  the  highest  and  noblest 
sentiments  of  man,  and  its  development  will  furnish 
to  the  world  a  powerful  antidote  to  the  poison  of  ex- 
treme socialism.  The  evidences  in  favor  of  the  system 
accumulate,  as  we  investigate,  not  only  in  the  prac- 
tical examples  given,  but  in  the  encouraging  words  of 
intelligent  writers  who  have  made  the  subject  of 
socialism  a  study. 

Professor  Flint,  from  whose  excellent  work  on  social- 
ism I  have  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter, 
has  the  following  reference  to  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration : 

"The  various  forms  of  cooperative  production  and 
industrial  partnership,  which  have  been  tried  within 
the  last  sixty  years,  are  the  beginnings  of  a  perfectly 


204         RAILWAYS   AND   THKIR    EMPLOYEES. 

legitimate  inoveinent  which  may  reasonably  be  hoped 
to  have  a  great  future  before  it.  Its  aim  to  make 
laborers  also  capitalists,  sharers  of  profits,  as  well  as 
recipients  of  wages,  is  admirable.  In  principle  it  is 
unassailable.  The  difficulties  impeding  it  are  only 
difficulties  of  application,  and  arise  from  causes  which 
the  growth  of  intelligence  and  self-control,  the  spread 
of  mutual  confidence,  the  acquisition  of  commercial 
experience  and  the  increase  of  pecuniary  means  will 
diminish."  *  *  *  "One  of  the  most  interesting, 
yet  difficult,  of  the  themes  connected  with  the  indus- 
trial organization  of  society  is  that  of  participation  in 
the  product  of  labor,  or  profit-sharing  by  employees. 
It  is  plain  that  the  conditions  of  workmen  must  be 
greatly  improved,  even  in  countries  like  our  own,  be- 
fore the  system  can  become  more  than  subordinate  and 
supplemental  to  that  of  wages;  but  that  in  this  latter 
form  it  may  increasingly  and  with  ever  growing  ad- 
vantage be  introduced,  seems  also  certain.  The  regu- 
larity and  certainty  of  the  laborer's  remuneration, 
which  are  the  great  merits  of  the  wages  system,  are 
necessarily  gained  at  the  expense  of  a  concomitant 
variation  in  relation  to  demand  and  prices,  which  is 
also  a  merit,  and  which  can  only  be  secured  through 
profit-sharing.  As  the  great  obstacle  to  the  develop- 
ment of  profit-sharing  is  the  want  of  a  right  under- 
standing and  of  sufficient  trust  between  employers  and 
employed,  the  extension  of  the  system  will  be  at  least 
a  good  criterion  of  the  progress  of  a  truly  harmonious 
social  organization." 

Dr.  Flint's  idea  of  cooperation   differs  materially 
from  the  system  supported  in  these  papers.     This  is 


COOPERATION   THE    BEST   REMEDY.        205 

evident  from  his  allusion  to  the  regularity  and  cer- 
tainty of  remuneration  under  the  wages  system.  But 
we  do  not  propose  to  interfere  with  the  present  wages 
system.  It  is  an  annex  to  that  system  intended  to 
secure  a  larger  share  of  the  profits  of  labor  upon  con- 
dition of  faithful  adherence  to  the  contract.  In  such 
cases,  the  workman  will  receive  his  wages  as  regularly 
as  under  the  present  system,  and  the  additional  advan- 
tage of  a  moderate  share  of  the  profit,  in  case  any  is 
made.  The  old  idea  of  cooperation  and  the  one  which 
Dr.  Flint  has,  I  think,  in  mind,  was  in  the  establish- 
ment of  industrial  works  by  workmen  themselves,  by 
means  of  capital  by  them  contributed.  Under  such 
a  plan  the  workmen  would  not  only  own  and  control 
the  whole  plant,  but  would  manage  it  throughout,  and 
distribute  its  entire  net  profit  to  the  workmen  who 
had  contributed.  In  this  way  they  would  become 
proprietors  and  employers,  as  well  as  employees,  with 
this  difference  ;  that  in  the  one  case  they  would  re- 
ceive regular  remuneration,  while  in  the  other  they 
would  be  obliged  to  depend  upon  the  profits  of  their 
industry  for  any  compensation  beyond  the  necessaries 
of  life.  The  difficulty  of  conducting  such  industrial 
works  under  the  old  method,  I  have  already  explained, 
but  the  importance  of  the  points  leads  me  to  refer 
again  to  the  objections  given.  In  cooperative  or 
profit-sharing  works  on  the  plan  to  which  Dr.  Flint 
evidently  refers,  the  workmen,  who  became  proprie- 
tors, as  well  as  employees,  are  obliged  to  assume  all  the 
risks  and  responsibilities  of  the  enterprise,  and  this,  it 
is  obvious,  I  think,  they  cannot  do  without  incurring 
hazards  which  they  should  not  be  expected  to  run.    If 


2o6        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

manufacturing  industry  was  always  successful  and 
profitable,  there  would  be  no  trouble,  but  we  all  know 
that  such  concerns  are  subject  to  all  the  conditions  of 
industrial  and  conimercial  life,  and,  therefore,  while 
striving  for,  and  hoping  for  success,  we  must  not  ig- 
nore the  possibilities  of  reverse  and  loss.  Such  mis- 
fortunes would  subject  these  small  working  proprie- 
tors to  the  risks  of  extreme  poverty  and  destitution  to 
which  they  should  not  be  exposed.  Failure  in  such 
cases  would  overthrow  the  system,  and  interpose  for- 
midable obstacles  to  a  method  of  relief,  which  if  in- 
telligently and  fairly  carried  out,  would  be  of  inesti- 
mable advantage  to  the  working  classes. 

If  workmen,  as  they  may,  become  capitalists  and 
choose  to  establish  works  for  themselves,  as  individ- 
uals or  as  proprietors  in  a  corporation,  no  objection  is 
offered  here.  Numerous  cases  of  this  kind  can  be 
cited.  Nothing  is  more  common  or  can  be  more  nat- 
ural.    But  this  is  not  cooperation. 

We  propose  to  leave  individual  rights  and  individ- 
ual liberty  precisely  as  they  now  exist  and  to  urge  no 
change  in  the  relations  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed which  will  not  commend  itself  to  the  two  par- 
ties in  interest.  If  the  reasons  1  have  given  are  sound 
the  industrial  or  transportation  agencies  conducted 
upon  the  profit-sharing  lines,  or  upon  the  system  of 
life  insurance  and  pensions  described,  will  prove  so 
much  superior  to  the  old  system  as  to  bring  about  a 
peaceful  revolution,  mutually  beneficial  to  employers 
and  employed. 

A  serious  obstacle  to  cooperative  establishments 
upon  the  old  lines,  that  is,  in  a  combination  of  work- 


COOPERATION   THE    BEST   REMEDY.        207 

men  to  contribute  the  necessary  capital  for  plant  and 
supplies  of  raw  material,  by  which  they  may  become 
proprietors,  and,  therefore,  the  recipients  of  all  the 
profits,  is  perceptible  in  advance  ;  but  can  never  be 
fully  realized  until  practical  experience  has  developed 
the  trouble.  Success  in  manufacturing,  as  well  as  in 
commercial  enterprise,  depends  very  much  upon  the 
skill,  knowledge  and  experience  of  the  managing  di- 
rector, or  whoever  stands  at  the  helm.  Such  a  man 
would  be  indispensable  and  can  seldom  be  found  in 
the  ranks  of  the  workmen,  although  his  duties  would 
in  most  cases  be  assumed  by  some  leading  and  intelli- 
gent member  of  that  body.  But  the  commercial  train- 
ing necessary  to  such  a  man  would  be  utterly  lacking 
in  the  very  capable  workman,  who  would  be  as  little 
qualified  to  guide  and  manage  the  enterprise  as  he 
would  be  to  navigate  a  ship.  Such  talent  and  expe- 
rience could  be  employed  no  doubt  ;  but  not  on  the 
cooperative  plan,  and  in  yielding  on  this  point  the 
weakness  of  the  scheme  on  the  basis  of  proprietorship 
is  at  once  exposed. 

One  of  the  conspicuous  fallacies  of  socialism  is  laid 
bare  in  an  examination  of  this  subject,  so  far  as  it  re- 
lates to  cooperative  work  pure  and  simple,  as  illus- 
trated in  proprietorship.  It  is  claimed  that  capital, 
being  the  product  of  labor,  belongs  to  all,  and  that  it 
should  bear  no  interest.  It  is  claimed,  too,  that  the 
profits  of  labor,  as  in  industrial  works,  should  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  laborers  who  have  done  the  work. 

Now  suppose  workmen  combine  to  own  and  oper- 
ate their  own  plant.  Buildings  and  machinerv  will 
be  necessary.      How  shall  they  be  procured?     If  the 


2o8        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

answer  is  that  the  workmen  will  themselves  erect  the 
buildings  and  construct  the  machinery,  how  will  they 
be  compensated  for  this  work?  If  they  pay  them- 
selves, or,  in  other  words,  work  for  nothing,  how  are 
they  to  live  during  the  process  of  construction?  Even 
they  must  buy  brick  and  lumber,  and  inasmuch  as  the 
machine  shops  which  turn  out  the  machines  are  not 
generally  identical  with  the  factory  which  produces 
textile  fabrics,  how  are  these  workmen  to  be  compen- 
sated for  their  labor,  without  the  use  of  capital? 

The  shortest,  and  evidently  the  easiest  answer  to 
these  questions,  is  to  offer  the  plan  of  confiscation 
embraced  in  the  idea  of  abolishing  all  private  owner- 
ship of  property.  In  that  case  the  buildings  and 
machinery  could  be  seized  and  run  on  communist 
principles.  This  leads  us  back  to  the  paternalism  of 
Bellamy,  or  the  anarchy  of  Kropotkine,  which  I  have 
already  discussed  at  length.  An  endless  chain  of  dif- 
ficulty presents  itself  in  all  forms  of  cooperative  indus- 
try founded  upon  confiscation  and  governmental  con- 
trol, or  which  ignore  the  great  fact  of  mutual  obli- 
gations and  mutual  responsibilities  throughout  all 
conditions  of  life.  Schemes  of  improvement  which 
make  a  change  in  human  nature  a  condition  of  suc- 
cess, are  idle  and  foolish.  When  we  solve  the  prob- 
lem of  the  quadrature  of  the  circle  and  establish  per- 
petual motion,  we  may,  possibly,  approach  the  perfec- 
tion of  humanity  ;  but  until  then  it  is  but  a  waste  of 
time  to  consider  dreams  and  purely  speculative  the- 
ories. 

Cooperative,    or    profit-sharing    industry,    as  sup- 
ported by  this  series  of  articles,  having  been  in  prac- 


COOPERATION   THE    BEST   REMEDY.        209 

tical  and  successful  operation  for  sixty  years,  in  many 
manufacturing  industries,  and  as  illustrated  in  the 
system  of  life  insurance  and  pensions,  which  has  been 
introduced  in  the  business  of  railway  transportation, 
with  the  most  satisfactory  results,  it  seems  to  be  en- 
titled to  the  attentive  consideration  of  all  who  believe 
men  are  called  upon  to  give  thought  to  the  social 
topics  of  the  time.  If  there  is  social  unrest  in  the 
civilized  world,  a  fact  which  will  be  hardly  disputed, 
we  are  bound,  not  only  as  Christians  but  as  parts  of 
the  human  brotherhood,  to  give  careful  examination 
to  all  plans  which  contemplate  man's  improvement 
and  elevation  in  the  social  scale,  and  in  the  United 
States,  especially,  where  the  liberty  of  the  individual 
is  a  marked  feature  of  our  system  of  government,  we 
are  bound  to  study  plans  which  may  render  that  per- 
sonal liberty  more  precious  and  more  enduring.  In 
devoting  ourselves  to  this  work,  we  may  accomplish  a 
double  purpose;  first,  in  baffling  the  schemes  of  social 
fanatics  whose  wild  propositions  would,  if  carried 
into  effect,  destroy  our  social  system,  overthrow  popu- 
lar government,  and  reduce  the  people  to  slavery  and 
degradation. 

Influenced  by  these  ideas,  the  writer  has  devoted 
more  time  to  the  subject  of  socialism  than  he  had 
intended  at  the  outset,  more  and  more  impressed  with 
the  importance  of  meeting  all  reasonable  demands  of 
labor  fairly  and  liberally;  while,  at  the  same  time,  he 
has  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  analyzing 
such  plans  of  socialist  leaders  as  he  could  reduce  to 
comprehensible  shape.  Among  these  plans  the  an- 
archist propositions  are  the  most  outspoken,  and,  it 
14 


310        RAILWAYS   AND   THEIR    EMPLOYEES. 

may  be  added,  the  most  dangerous  and  revolutionary. 
It  is  not  necessarv  to  conclude  that  these  dark  and 
impracticable  plans  are  as  threatening  or  as  near  to 
fruition  as  the  authors  would  have  us  believe,  nor 
must  it  be  inferred  that  any  very  large  body  of  genuine 
socialists  favor  such  reprehensible  methods;  but  it 
will  be  useful  to  examine  the  line  of  thought  followed 
by  the  over-zealous  and  fanatical,  in  order  to  show  the 
more  reasonable  and  intelligent  of  the  socialistic  con- 
verts the  folly  and  impracticability  of  schemes  which 
are  advocated  by  their  pretended  allies,  the  wild  and 
ferocious  anarchists  of  the  Kropotkine  school. 

The  theory  of  the  writer,  fortified  by  innumerable 
examples  of  its  truth,  is  that  a  vast  majority  of  the 
people,  whether  in  sympathy  with  the  humane  features 
of  socialism,  or  whether  they  remain  neutral  and  in- 
different in  regard  to  such  questions,  will  always  be 
found  on  the  side  of  justice,  law  and  order,  whenever 
it  becomes  necessary  to  define  their  positions.  With 
this  abiding  faith  in  the  patriotism,  fairness  and  hon- 
esty of  the  people  who  live  under  and  control  this 
free  government,  and  confident  of  the  triumph  of 
common  sense  over  the  insane  teachings  of  men  who 
froth  and  rave,  but  accomplish  nothing,  the  writer  has 
tried  to  convince  his  readers  by  a  process  of  reason- 
ing which  depends  mainly  upon  its  clearness  and 
simplicity,  that  there  is  but  one  way  to  bring  about  a 
real  improvement  in  the  social  conditions  of  the 
working  classes;  that  is,  by  adopting  plans  which 
are  founded  upon  justice,  and  which  are  grounded 
upon  mutual  advantages.  In  this  direction  there  is 
reason   for  strong  hope.       To  such  conclusion,   intel- 


COOPERATION    THE    BEST    REMEDY.        21  i 

ligent    men    are    led    irresistibly    as   thev  examine   the 
subject. 

The  particular  branch  which  interests  the  writer,  is 
railway  service,  and  in  that  line  of  industry  the  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  applying  a  system  of  life  insurance 
and  pensions,  dependent  upon  faithful  and  continu- 
ous service,  is  conclusive.  Adverse  conditions  offer 
serious  obstacles  to  the  scheme,  so  far  as  it  calls  for 
contributions  from  the  companies,  for  until  railways 
can  earn  reasonable  compensation  for  the  service  per- 
formed by  them,  they  are  powerless  to  contribute, 
even  moderately  to  the  development  of  a  method  so 
humane,  considerate  and  effective  for  the  relief  and 
benefit  of  theiremployees.  Railway  emplovees  are,  and 
should  be,  well  paid,  not  only  because  the  service  calls 
for  more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and  care,  but  be- 
cause it  is  extra  hazardous.  Constantly  exposed  to 
dangers  which  no  human  foresight  can  avert,  there  is 
quite  as  much  reason  to  provide  for  sudden  loss  of 
life  or  disability  as  in  military  service.  Men  worthy 
of  the  great  trust  confided  to  them,  in  guarding  the 
lives  of  millions  of  travelers,  should  be  made  to  feel 
that  in  case  of  accident  they  will  not  be  helpless,  but 
that  a  faithful  discharge  of  their  high  duties  will  en- 
sure them  that  protection  which  courage,-  devotion 
and  watchfulness  should  secure  for  them.  The  time 
is  not,  I  hope,  far  distant,  when  railway  companies 
can  contribute  more  liberally  towards  the  establish- 
ment of  these  systems  of  relief  for  the  benefit  of  em- 
ployees; but  meantime,  the  earnest  cooperation  of  the 
employing  agency  and  the  employees  who  are  to  be 
the  beneficiaries  will  be  necessary.    If  an  examination 


212        RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR   EMPLOYEES. 

of  the  systems  now  in  successful  operation  in  Great 
Britain  and  in  this  country  leads  to  their  more  i^eneral 
adoption,  a  very  ])ractical  and  substantial  ^ood  will 
engraft  itself  u])on  railway  service,  alike  beneficial  and 
creditable  to  employers  and  employed. 

I^'inally,  after  an  earnest,  sincere  and  thorough 
study  of  current  socialistic  literature,  on  both  sides, 
the  conclusions  of  the  writer  are,  that  the  principles 
of  cooperation,  founded  upon  mutual  interests,  offer 
the  best  solution  of  the  social  problem  available,  and 
the  only  one  which  seems  to  have  the  slightest  chance 
of  real  and  permanent  success.  Some  men  may  pre- 
fer to  dream  of  Utopia  and  the  millennium,  but  people, 
generally  are  disposed  to  look  upon  human  nature  in 
the  light  of  their  own  experience,  fortified  and  in- 
tensified as  it  is  by  historical  precedents,  running 
through  centuries  of  human  life. 

Whatever  real  strength  abstract  socialism  has  in 
the  world  is  the  outcome  of  just  and  humane  feeling, 
that  is,  in  deploring  the  inequalities  in  human  con- 
ditions and  in  supporting  measures  of  relief  and 
amelioration.  The  idea  of  accomplishing  a  cure  of 
these  troubles  by  acts  of  violence  and  gross  injustice 
has  no  currency  except  among  fanatics  and  men  of 
unsound  minds.  If  this  is  true,  the  mad  schemes  of 
anarchists  and  communists  which  propose  the  destruc- 
tion of  society  and  reconstruction  upon  its  ruins,  can 
never  have  any  substantial  support  beyond  that  of  the 
inconsiderable  fragment  which  seeks  to  inculcate  its 
doctrines  by  intimidation  through  bombs  and  assas- 
sination. It  is  not  hazardous  to  assert  that  this 
nmrderous  element  is  comparatively  weak  in  numbers 


COOPERATION   THE    BEST   REMEDY.        213 

and  insignificant  in  influence.  May  we  not  conclude 
that  the  fundamental  principles  of  socialism  are  the 
outgrowth  of  humanity  and  benevolence?  Is  it  not 
more  reasonable  to  believe  that  a  large  body  of  high- 
minded  and  conscientious  men  favor  the  elevation  of 
huniajiity  by  measures  which  recognize  justice  as  an 
indispensable  requisite,  and  practically  as  of  the  most 
vital  importance  in  any  change  of  the  social  status? 

Intercourse  with  our  fellow  citizens  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  leads  to  the  belief,  that  while  so- 
cialisjii  in  the  direction  of  improving  the  condition  of 
the  working  classes  has  become  quite  popular,  it  has 
made  little  or  no  progress  in  its  offensive  features.  I 
feel  so  much  confidence  in  the  intelligence  and  patri- 
otism of  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  that  I  do  not  share  the  apprehensions  of  those 
who  take  surface  indications  as  a  proof  of  an  unhealthy 
state  of  public  opinion. 

Feeling  this  confidence  in  the  loyalty,  patriotism 
and  good  sense  of  the  people,  I  believe  the  theory  of 
cooperation,  as  approved  in  this  series  of  papers  and 
supported  by  many  years  of  practical  experience  in 
this  and  other  countries,  will  receive  fair  and  earnest 
consideration.  Beneficial  results  can  scarcely  fail  to 
follow  such  an  investigation. 


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